


Lovebirds (Tweethearts Sequel)

by olddarkmachine



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-13 12:11:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olddarkmachine/pseuds/olddarkmachine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget  his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It’s Louis’ first day of uni. Well, Louis’ second first day. And it could hardly count as a first day anyway since it was just the move in day, but god dammit it sure felt like a first day to him. The night before, he’d spent saying his final farewell to his flat and his bed while being maybe just a little overdramatic and overemotional. 

“For Christ’s sakes, Princess,  you’re gonna be 45 minutes away, it isn’t like you can’t just come home whenever you want,” Niall had said exasperatedly as Louis lay moaning on the couch about how much he’d miss it. “Besides, you’re the one that elected to stay in a dorm. ‘I don’t want to ride the bus that long every day and this will make me concentrate on classes,’” Niall mimed, checking his phone and cursing Harry, Liam and Zayn for having promotional work in Sweden. At least if they were here, Harry could deal with this Louis situation and he could be snogging Liam into oblivion. 

Now, the next morning, the boys were still abroad and Louis was still sulking. He’d been staring at the same white wall that he had been for the past hour trying to place his posters, and Niall sat on the bed watching him, offering as little help as possible.

“Would it be weird to put up my One Direction poster?” The older boy mused, more to himself than his friend. “You know, since I’m dating one of them and all? I mean, it’s not like I can put up pictures of me and Haz.” That was probably going to be the worst part about uni, to be honest. Sure, not having his best friend to pass the time would be horrible, but Niall could drop by whenever he wanted, but Harry? It wasn’t like he could just stroll onto campus to visit him. Not that Louis hadn’t tried valiantly to find a way around that whole “fame” thing. But as long as Harry was a part of the hottest boy band on the planet right now, Louis was going to be quite boyfriendless. Which he was used to by now, but it really wasn’t fair that he couldn’t enjoy being taken.

“It’d be weird if your roomie turns out to be just as in love with him as you are,” Niall chuckled. “Do ya think you wanna open that can of worms?” The brunette rolled his eyes and shoved his friend in the shoulder before turning his attention to the other half of the room. Above the perfectly made bed was a BBC Radio 1 banner and underneath it lay photo upon photo of a group of friends. From what Lou could see, they looked like the kind of people that would be cast as characters in Skins, but there was no way of knowing which one was actually his roommate. (Though he could deduce that it wasn’t the girl with the bright orange hair.) But from the looks of the group, none of them were the One Direction type. In fact, he was certain they were the “Love obscure music that no one knows about until people know about them” type.

“Don’t think I’m gonna have to worry ‘bout ‘im,” he replied, placing a couple of tacks between his teeth before grabbing his signed poster— Zayn just thought he was so funny when he handed both him and Niall the signed photos, saying “For our biggest fans” with that devilish wink of his— and climbing onto the bed to secure it where he wanted it. “Lay down and tell me if you can see it from there,” he mumbled around the tacks. 

“Wow, Lou, could you sound like anymore of a fangirl right now?” Niall joked, but laid down, knowing his friend would probably use those pins as a weapon if he didn’t concede. Propping his head on his arms, he stared up at the oversized picture with the three boys looking every bit of heartbreaking as they did in real life. “Yeah, I’d say that’s good,” he finally said after he’d appraised paper Liam. Then he smirked evilly at Louis before waggling his eyebrows at him. “I mean, you do have a pretty spectacular view of young Harold from down here, I’m getting quite flustered.” Smiling to himself as he pushed the pins into the corners of the poster, Louis shook his head at his friend’s cheeky remark.

“You better keep your paws off my boy, Horan. You’ve got one of your own.” The older boy stepped back and appraised his work before nodding in approval. Hopping off the bed, he started to skim through his other posters, looking for the next one to be added to his wall.

“I do,” the Irishman sighed contentedly before taking his phone from his pocket. “My own who said he’d be free for some phone time right now, in fact. Think you can handle the wall by yourself?” He asked, already making his way to the door. 

“Like I wasn’t already handling it by myself, ya prick,” Lou retorted, biting his lip as he tried to decide between the Arctic Monkeys and Manchester Orchestra. “Tell Li I say hi and that Harry better have a good reason for not being able to talk.” Harry had texted him that morning saying he’d be super busy and that he probably wouldn’t be able to talk at all, which was weird, but Louis wasn’t going to question it. Though it’d been a few months, he was still a little worried that at any moment the popstar would realize that he wasn’t worth it and up and leave, so he really didn’t want to give him any more reason to do so. That didn’t stop him from being slightly bitter about the fact that Liam could find time to talk to Niall, but Harry couldn’t find the time to talk to him. In fact, the last thing he’d received from his boyfriend wasn’t even really for, but to his fans about him.

> @Harry_Styles: Everyone go wish @Louis_Tomlinson good luck. He moves into his dorm today. #PoorFellow #PrayersForLou

It had been a sweet gesture, especially since it spurred a worldwide trend, but really, he just wanted Harry to be there, wrapping his arms around his waist while burying his face into his neck and pretending to care about the stupid posters he was trying so hard to arrange. With a sigh, he plopped down on the bed, and laid back, staring up at the ceiling and letting the silence settle around him.

His mind wandered over the summer which had been arguably the best summer he’d ever experienced in his young life. He’d spent just about every day at the One Direction flat, and when he wasn’t there, Harry was at his flat. To be honest, he still couldn’t believe he’d snagged him and often wondered when he’d wake up because it surely had to be a dream. What were the chances that within a span of months he’d have the most perfect boyfriend, with the best of best friends a guy could ask for, and he was no longer categorized as a college drop out. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he remembered how proud is mom had sounded when he’d told her. Not that she didn’t always love him or anything, but it did seem to be hard for her to accept that her son hadn’t continued his education. Now if only he could tell her that he wasn’t a lonely hermit like she seemed to think he was. 

With a sigh, he grabbed the pillow from the head of his bed, curled into it and pressed his face into the plushness, enjoying the fact that it smelled of Harry’s curls. He wasn’t exactly sure how he was going to make it throughout the week without being able to run his fingers through that hair of his, or cuddle into his long frame like they were two puzzle pieces made for each other, let alone the whole school year. Or even worse, the months that they would be out on their world tour, but they’d cross that bridge when they got there. Yawning loudly, his eyes started to droop as the lack of sleep from stress started to take its toll. Louis wasn’t sure when Niall was going to be back, but he was sure the loud boy would make sure to make his presence known when he did. Allowing his eyes to shut, he pressed closer to the pillow. A little nap never hurt anyone.

***

Three sharp knocks caused Louis to startle awake, jumping up and looking around wide eyed as he took in the room around him. It took a moment longer than it probably should have for him to realize where he was exactly as his eyes fell on the posters that still lay unhung on his bed and his roommate’s stuff still lay untouched. Rubbing at his eyes tiredly, he eyed the door, considering if it was worth answering. After all, if it was his roomie, he’d let himself in and if it were Niall, well he’d do the same. Of course, he wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d been asleep either. Another round of knocks ricocheted through his thoughts, causing him to sigh loudly before going to open it. 

“Look, I-” he choked on his words as his eyes fell on the person in his doorway. The figure was tall and wrapped up in a large sweater with the hood pulled up. Though he was inside, he still donned sunglasses, which hid his eyes as he presumably stared down at Louis. Hands shoved deep in the pockets of his black jeans, the figure stood there, not saying a word. Had Louis been anyone else, he probably would have fallen for it. But he could see the stray curls that peeked from beneath the hood and the small dip of the dimple that was starting to form. He opened his mouth before quickly snapping it shut. It was Harry. Harry was there in the doorway of his new dorm and… okay, he had to be dreaming. He was most likely still napping. Yeah. That was it, because there was no way he came back, disguised himself and managed to get to his dorm without being found out. 

“Can I come in?” He chuckled, breaking the silence. “Or have you already replaced me?” Louis saw his eyebrow arch over the rim of the sunglasses and that was it, he didn’t care if he was dreaming. Grabbing the front of Harry’s sweater, he dragged him into the room, slamming the door shut and then pressing him against it. Harry quickly removed the glasses, shoving them into his pocket. “Well if this is the reaction I’m going to get all the time, I think I like uni,” Harry laughed before being cut off by Louis pressing his lips into his. Sucking the younger boy’s bottom lip into his mouth, he tugged on it gently with his teeth, eliciting a small mewl from him. If he was going to wake up alone in his room, he was going to make the most of this, dammit. Harry quickly took control, breaking free from Louis and kissing his way down the older boy’s jawline, down his neck and towards his collarbones. Slowly, he pushed away from the door, walking the shorter boy backwards. Understanding, Louis led the way to his bed, pulling the popstar down with him as he lowered himself onto it. The room started to spin as Harry pressed his lips back to his, tracing his bottom lip with his tongue. He tangled his fingers in those curls he was just missing so much to pull the boy impossibly closer to him as hitched his leg around his hip. This was nice, he thought, enjoying the feel of Harry’s large hands as they worked their way up his shirt. This was-

“Oi! I helped you out so you could deal with stressed Louis, not so you could break in his new bed!” Niall’s voice rang through the small room and Louis’ eyes shot open. He felt Harry push away as he stared down at him, smiling brilliantly as his eyes shone with mischief. 

“How else did you think I was going to deal with his stress?” He said cheekily, turning his gaze on the blonde in the doorway. Louis felt his face burn as it occurred to him that he wasn’t still asleep (because Niall certainly wouldn’t be there if this  _was_  a dream) and that they were currently crushing his poor posters. 

“You actually came,” he said breathlessly, feeling his heart swell as the realization hit him. Harry was supposed to be in Sweden, not in his dorm room. The green eyed gaze returned to his, warming as the saw the smile dancing across the blue eyed boy’s lips.

“Of course I did, you didn’t really think I’d let you come to school without a goodbye kiss, did you?” He let mock horror color his tone as he laid a hand across his heart. “You cut me deep, Lou.”

“He forgets to mention that your very best friend in the whole wide world was the one that made it possible,” Niall piped up, still standing on the other side of the room. Louis watched Harry roll his eyes.

“Yes, yes, Horan, you absolute Irish mastermind, none of this would have been possible without you,” he sighed exaggeratedly, finally rolling off of his boyfriend. “But I was the one that had to employ my marvelous acting skills.” Sitting up, Louis eyed them both suspiciously, completely lost in what they were talking about. 

“What are you-” he started, highly aware of Harry intertwining their fingers together as he was cut off by his best friend.

“Sorry, Tommo, it’s a secret. No fun if we tell you about all our secret Narry conversations, now would it?” He chuckled, pulling out the chair at the desk and plopping down on it.

“Narry?” Louis asked, cocking an eyebrow quizzically. Niall shrugged, chewing the corner of his thumb.

“You guys have a cute couples name, so it’s only fair that I get one,” he said offhandedly. Before he could retort, Harry cut in, rubbing his thumb over the back of Louis’ hand.

“Are you going to give me the tour, Lou bear?” He asked sweetly, eyes bright with excitement. Louis often forgot that Harry was just an 18 year old and had it not been for The X Factor, he’d probably be at university right now, just being a normal teenaged boy. It was probably surreal for him to see what he was missing out on, though to be honest, Louis didn’t think it that big of a deal. After all, he was living the dream. But he couldn’t say no to those big green eyes, even if he wanted to. 

“Yeah, babe,” he said, smiling brightly at the boy, still buzzing from their quick snog session and the fact that he was actually there. Standing up, he pulled Harry up with him, shuddering at the crunching sound his posters made as the taller boy stood. “C’mon, Ni,” he addressed the Irishman, “let’s show young Harold what it’s like to be a common uni student.”

***

After a tour of his rather small dorm room they toured the campus, which included a bunch of people glancing at Harry who had pulled his hood back up and put the sunglasses back on and shaking their heads like they might be crazy. There had been one girl that came up to him and said he looked familiar, which had caused Harry to laugh as say that he got that a lot. Louis had felt nervous the whole time, worried that at any moment someone would realize that that was Harry Styles walking hand in hand with him around campus, but no one did. Niall had made sure to make as many remarks about how sickeningly cute they were as he could while also acting as the tour guide. 

“Here we have some building. I think people learn in here. Knowing Louis, this is where he’ll end up getting the most sleep,” he had gestured to a large building before being slapped in the back of the head by Louis.

Harry had looked absolutely enthralled by the campus and all the people, smile big and bright as they walked around. His thumb never stopped tracing circles in the back of Louis’ hand as they walked, constantly causing him to lose his train of thought. But all too soon, Niall and Harry had to leave. 

“But why?” Louis whined, panic setting in as he realized that if they left then it was all going to be real and he was going to be alone at university. 

“I am not sitting in rush hour traffic for you, princess,” Niall quipped, wrapping his friend in a tight hug as he buried his face into the crook of his neck. He’d never admit it, but he was going to miss Louis being at home. He knew that he’d made fun of his roommate for being overdramatic about the 45 minute distance between them, but it was the furthest apart they’d be from each other aside from the occasional family holiday they took. Taking a second to collect himself, he pulled away from Louis and smiled brightly at him. “Be a good boy, yeah? No getting into trouble!” He wagged his finger at him, doing a frighteningly accurate imitation of his mother. A bark of laughter tore from Louis’ lips as he smiled fondly at his friend.

“Yes, mom,” he replied as Niall walked towards the door. Harry replaced him, and placed a finger gently beneath his chin as he nudged it up so their eyes would meet.

“You’re going to be fine, love,” he soothed, noting the panic that danced in the older boy’s eyes. “I’m just a phone call away. You know that if you need me, I will be here as soon as I can, no matter what,” he drawled, voice dripping with promise. Louis nodded, afraid to speak as he swallowed back the lump that was starting to form in his throat. “Have fun, babe. Besides, you make it through the week, and I’ll make sure you have something good to come home to this weekend,” Harry said lowly, winking at him, causing the older boy to smirk. 

“Well, that’s an offer I can’t refuse,” he chuckled, voice quiet. “I’ll try my best.” 

“That’s my boy,” Harry smiled as he leant down and placed a kiss to his lips. Lingering for a moment, he finally pulled back. “I love you,” he breathed.

“Love you too,” Louis replied, relishing the feel of the words as he said them, because honestly, saying them would never get old. As the curly haired boy turned to leave, Louis watched him go, not turning away from the doorway until the door had swung shut. With a sigh, he plopped down on his bed, unsure of what to do to pass the time until a reasonable hour to go to sleep. He also wondered when his roommate would finally show up so they could be properly introduced. 

All he really knew was that maybe this school thing wouldn’t be so bad, especially if Harry could get around with a big sweater and some sunglasses. Maybe, none of this would be that hard at all.

Of course, maybe he shouldn’t speak so soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?

Everything was warm, especially Louis’ cheeks as Harry stared lovingly into his eyes. He’d never seen anyone look at him that way and you’d think he’d be used to it by now, but there he was, pink cheeked as the curly haired boy looked down at him while nibbling on his lip. It took everything in him not to look away from the look of adoration as the blood in his veins started to simmer. All he wanted to do was reach out and tug his boyfriend’s face to his and leave those bright green eyes dark with blown pupils, but something kept him from doing it. Tantalizingly slow, Harry started to lean down, a small smirk pulling up on the corner of his plush pink lips. Resisting the urge to push up on his toes and just end this slow torture, Louis’ eyes flickered down to Harry’s lips as they opened to say something. Except, instead of words that would send shivers down his spine, as he’d expected, a loud snort came out.

What? 

The warmth, which had started as a pleasant feeling was starting to become uncomfortable as the popstar’s lips kept moving, but only producing cringeworthy snores. 

Suddenly, the loudest of them all sounded, causing the older boy to jolt awake, clutching at the bed to keep from falling off. What the hell was that, he thought, mind sluggish with sleep as he tried to compute just where he was. Harry wasn’t a snorer, at least not the loud, obnoxious, make you want to stab your eardrums type, and neither was Niall for that matter. And he was certain he wouldn’t have gone home with anyone that wasn’t either of them. As his mind played catch up, his eyes adjusted to the dim light filtering through the window, taking in the posters he’d finally tacked to his dorm room wall. 

“Oh!” He exclaimed, sitting up quickly and looking towards the direction of the dream ruining snores. The culprit lay face down, fully clothed from the night before and one leg hanging off the side with his face pressed into the pillow. Staring at what he assumed was his roommate, the night before creeped back into his mind. His eyes narrowed slightly as he remembered being awakened at two in the morning by the door slamming and a yelp as someone ran into his desk. (Served him right for being an inconsiderate asshole at ungodly hours in the morning.) So this was the person he’d be stuck with for the year. You’d think the pillow would have silenced his racket, Louis thought bitterly, already knowing that he probably wouldn’t like this boy. After all, who is out until two in the morning the night before the first classes! (And yes, Louis was aware he sounded a tad bit like a grandmother, but really, it’d been years since he’d been to school and he didn’t want to start off on the wrong side of the bed.)

As he continued to glare angrily at his roommate, who remained blissfully unaware of his presence, he glanced at his alarm clock sighing is resignation as he saw that it would go off in about five minutes. Figuring it wasn’t worth trying to sneak 4 minutes and 59 more seconds of sleep, he pushed himself off the bed to gather his shower things. At least he’d get first dibs on the bathroom. 

“Take that,” he muttered under his breath, grabbing a teal shirt he was sure was actually Harry’s, his white skinny jeans that hugged his bum just right—or so he’d been told— and a nice fresh pair of striped boxer-briefs. (“Why just choose one when you can have the best of both worlds!” He’d argued when Niall had questioned his inability to make a commitment between the two. Honestly, the boxers vs briefs question was so passé anyway.) Carefully shutting his draws— because he’s considerate enough to do that sort of thing— he threw a glance towards his phone, wondering if Harry would be okay. Shaking his head, knowing that the chances that his 18-year-old boyfriend being up before 8 AM were slim to none, he headed into the bathroom, wincing as his roommate let out another peal of loud, obnoxious noises.

***

To say his first day was fun and exciting would be the most blatant of lies. Louis had forgotten just how much he’d hated being cramped into one of those uncomfortable seats attached to the minuscule, miserable excuse of a desk that barely had enough room to hold his cellphone— which he’d forgotten in his room— let alone his laptop. It also didn’t help that after years of being able to do whatever the hell he wanted whenever the hell he wanted, he now had to spend time cooped up inside and doing homework. Admittedly, the topics seemed much more interesting this go around and the professors didn’t all seem to be robots that sat in a closet during holiday breaks collecting dust and waiting for school to go back into session. But that wasn’t the point, because as the day dragged on, his eyes dragged toward the clock, watching the seconds tick away slowly. He wished Niall were there, doodling something obscene on his notes to make him laugh or something of that sort. He also wished Harry was there because he was certain that he would be able to make the time go quicker. (Actually, now that he thought about it, Harry being there probably wasn’t a good idea at all…) 

A folded slip of paper landed on his desk, causing him to jump slightly. Staring at it cautiously, he looked up to see a girl with bright brown eyes and a ridiculous amount of curly hair smiling at him. (To be honest, she was gorgeous, and had he not had Harry, he probably would have considered a lifestyle change.) Confusedly, he cocked his eyebrow at her as she nodded towards the note that lay upon his desk. Unfolding it, he read the neat, looping handwriting:

_The longer you stare, the longer it’s going to take for this class to finish._

 No one asked you, he thought to himself, staring down the slip of paper. What was this anyway, weren’t they too old to be passing notes? 

_I’ll keep that in mind._

He wrote quickly, folding the paper up again and tossing it towards the girl sitting just a seat away. Daintily, she picked it up and opened it, eyes scanning the words and then furiously scribbling a response. Just moments later, it landed back on his desk.

_No need for the sarcasm, sassy, just starting conversation. I’ve had you in every class today and I just thought I’d say hi. My name’s Danielle._

Sassy? He wasn’t being sassy. Okay, maybe he was being a little sassy.

_How’d you know I was being sarcastic?_

Eyeing the professor to make sure he wasn’t looking in their direction— because yes, Louis still feared getting caught pass notes, okay— before flicking it onto Danielle’s desk. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the mass of curls shake as she shook her head down at the note, dragging her pen across the paper. Without even looking his way, she tossed it at him, landing it expertly on the center of his teeny tiny desk.

_I could see it in your eyes._

A tiny bark of laughter escaped his lips, causing the professor to stop and look at him concernedly. In an attempt to cover it up, he started to cough obnoxiously. (It was best to be known as the kid that almost choked in class than the one who couldn’t even pay attention for the first class. Hell, no one even did anything the first class beside explain what they were going to do for the rest of the term.)

“Are you quite alright?” The professor asked, probably worrying about the repercussions of a student dying in his class. With another small cough, he nodded and smiled what he hoped was his award winning smile. The one that his mom often told him would get him anything, and more often than not, she was right. Casting another worried look at him, the professor continued on about some group project of sorts. Whatever, he’d just worry about that when it came time. Looking at the sentence in front of him, he smiled to himself. He liked this Danielle girl. 

_The name’s Louis._

He scribbled before attempting to flick it onto her desk from his. It landed about a foot away from its intended target. Sighing rather dramatically, she rolled her eyes before bending down to pick it up. As he watched her open the folded paper, he couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth. If he were being honest, he hadn’t thought he’d make a friend on the first day. The worst thing about uni was that everyone took different classes based on what they needed, so it wasn’t like you always had the same people in every class, which had been what had made it so hard the first time he’d been to school. But here he was, passing notes like a giddy teenager with a girl he hadn’t even noticed had been in all his classes. Things seemed to be off to a good start. I can’t wait to tell Haz, he thought happily to himself as the note landed expertly on his lap.

_Nice to meet you, Louis._

They continued to pass the quickly worn paper back and forth for the rest of the class, completing three games of tic tac toe (all that Louis lost, on purpose of course) before the professor finally released them from the room. Continuing their conversation as they walked out together, Louis was amazed to hear that she was actually a double majoring in dance and business, which explained why she was so tiny and graceful as she walked beside him. The sun peaked through the gray sky as they walked towards the dorms, both having completed their classes for the day. 

“So, I’ve got to ask,” she chimed, nudging his shoulder with hers.

“Ask?” Louis stopped, slightly worried about what she could possibly have to ask. They had only known each other for about an hour after all.

“Have you done something important? Been in the paper or on the telly or something? Because you look familiar,” she said enthusiastically. “And I know we haven’t met before because I’m excellent with faces, and I would especially remember one as pretty as yours.” 

Louis stopped, unsure of what to say. He hadn’t given it any thought that anyone would recognize him. He was just a boy from Doncaster. He wasn’t important, so why would anyone have recognized him? Hell, he was sure he’d only ever been photographed with Harry once or twice. And sure, his twitter followers had reached a ridiculous number of 200,000, but he didn’t think anyone at school would recognize him from that either.

“Uh,” he said, chewing on his bottom lip nervously. He winced as he tugged harder than he meant to, tasting the coppery taste of blood fill his mouth. She waited expectantly, eyes bright with curiosity. “Nah, I guess I just have one of those faces,” he chuckled, trying to mask the fact that he was having an internal freakout. After a moment’s pause, she shrugged her shoulders and continued on her way.

“Must be. Or maybe it’s that deja vu. Weird shit, right there.” Sighing lowly to himself, he jogged to catch up with her quick pace. That was close.

***

Harry could feel someone’s gaze on him. It wasn’t that it was uncomfortable, per se, but his skin crawled knowing that someone was staring at him.

“Lou bear, you’re being creepy,” he mumbled, snuggling further into the blankets of his bed. A quiet mumble was the only response he got in return as he felt a hand press lightly into his shoulder. “No, babe, just give me five more minutes,” he said groggily, eyes still closed. Another, more forceful, nudge pushed his shoulder. “If you give me these five minutes, I promise to give you the single best blow job you’ve ever received,” he begged. Anything to not have to get out of the comfort of his bed.

“Oh, I like when you talk dirty to me,” a voice that was certainly not Louis’ answered him. Eyes flying open, Harry was greeted with the sight of Zayn’s face pressed close to his own. As his eyes adjusted to take in more than just the big hazel eyes that were peering into his soul, he let out a small squeak of terror.

“Jesus fuck, Zayn! What the hell are you doing!” He cried, eyes impossibly wide as he pushed away from his friend, who just laughed at his roommate’s dismay.

“I was being offered the best blow job I’ve ever received, that’s what I was doing,” he chuckled, winking at Harry as he sat back on his heels from where he knelt by the bed.

“‘S not for you, prick,” the younger boy said, sticking his tongue out childishly. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Lou bear is the love of your life,” Zayn cooed mockingly.

“Uuuugh,” Harry moaned, flipping over to his other side and pulling the comforter up over his head. “Go away, you insufferable asshole!” He truly loved Zayn, but it was too early to deal with him. Actually, now that the initial shock was wearing off, replaced by annoyance, Harry couldn’t help but want to beat the Bradford boy senseless with his pillow. He had planned on sleeping all day today. It was one of the few days they had off and the one person he’d wanted to spend it with was 45 minutes away in a classroom. He really couldn’t be too bitter about it, especially since he’d pushed Louis so hard to reapply to uni, but he didn’t really take into consideration the fact that would mean not seeing his boyfriend at every chance he got. Which, also wouldn’t be that much of a problem given he wasn’t clingy or anything, but he and the boys were leaving for their world tour soon and well, that was a long time to go sleeping in a bed alone again. A finger stabbed into his ribs.

**“** But Harry, it’s breakfast time,” Zayn stated matter of factly.

“And that’s my problem how?” He replied, not even trying to pretend he wasn’t agitated. 

“Li said he’d eat breakfast with me this morning, but when I went to his room, he was already gone, so now I have too much food, and it’s depressing eating by yourself.” Zayn did have a point, but Harry wasn’t exactly going to tell him that.

“Didn’t you guys get in at like, four this morning?” He asked, back still turned to his friend and eyes still closed. “How is Liam already gone?”

“Do you really have to ask?” Zayn moaned, tugging on the blankets. “I’ll give you a couple of hints. He’s blonde, he’s Irish and he’s a breakfast buddy stealer.” It really didn’t shock Harry that Liam had gone to see Niall, really. They’d only been gone a few days and he couldn’t stop talking to the boy on the phone. It was sickeningly sweet, but it wasn’t like he had much room to talk. Inhaling deeply, he rolled back over to face his roommate.

“If I get out of bed and eat breakfast with you, will you shut up?” He asked, jokingly bitter. 

“Scouts honor,” Zayn replied happily, holding up three fingers. With a slight shake of his head, Harry pushed away from his pillow, making a silent promise to return as soon as he could. 

***

He didn’t shut up.

“C’mooooon, Hazza!” Zayn whined from where he sat on the floor by Harry’s feet watching TV, tugging on the hem curly haired boy’s pants. “Liam promised to go to the movies with me, but—” 

“Then ditched you for the leprechaun,” Harry sighed loudly, over exaggerating his exasperation as he fixed his green gaze on his friend. “I got it, Zayn. But it sounds like a personal problem to me, babe,” he replied, trying not to find some sick amusement as the quiffed boy’s bottom lip jut out and start to quiver. He’d been like this since Harry had finally climbed out of his shower, fully clothed after giving up on going back to sleep, and he hadn’t stopped. That was three hours ago. Liam was so going to get it when he got home. A silence fell over the two as Harry stared at his phone, which was open to a blank tweet. Well, blank except for the twitter handle it was being sent to. He had wanted to send something to Louis to encourage him on his first day, but Simon had been cracking down on their twitter flirting.

“If you’re going to date, the least you could do is attempt to not openly flirt over the internet,” he’d said the last time they’d met. And though it did only make him want to flirt more, he did exactly want to push the older man either. He tapped his finger against his phone case as he thought about how to express his love for the blue eyed boy without, well, saying it. Just as he was about to give up, a commercial started to play on the telly, the opening chords of the song striking him as familiar. As he listened, he smiled to himself, recognizing the song, which was honestly just what he needed. Quickly, he started to tap out the tweet before hitting send. Thank goodness for great music on adverts. The quiet started to fall over the both of them as they both watched the ad finish.

“Please?” Zayn finally broke the silence, eliciting a small growl of frustration from Harry.

“Why don’t you ask Perrie, mate? She is your girlfriend, after all.” Zayn looked away quickly at the mention of the pretty blonde’s name, biting his lip.

“Yeah, about that..”

“You didn’t,” Harry moaned, knowing that look all too well. His Zayn wasn’t known for staying tied down for too long. In fact, when he’d introduced Perrie as his girlfriend to begin with, they’d all been in a minor state of shock. After all, he couldn’t even remember the last time their Bradford Bad Boy had even hinted at something that could lead to commitment, but Perrie had seemed like the real deal. She was quite literally the female version of Zayn, flirtations with Harry and all. “I loved that girl!”

The older boy let out a small sigh as he started to pick at the carpet.

“Yeah, I think I did too,” he mumbled. 

“So what was the issue!” Harry cried, honestly confused. He really didn’t see the issue.

“The issue was I think I love her!” Zayn cried back, throwing his arms up in defeat. “But I can’t tell her that! I know how she is, Harry, because she’s like me, and the second any four lettered L words that aren’t lace, lube or lads come into play, she’ll be gone!” There was a thick silence between them as they let the confession settle between them. Harry nudged Zayn’s knee affectionately. 

“It’s okay, love, I get it. But you should just tell her. I’m pretty sure she won’t run.” 

“Okay,” the hazel eyed boy scoffed half heartedly. “But that isn’t the point. I wanna go to the movies.” Rolling his eyes, Harry shook his head. Zayn was never one to just put his emotions out there, he knew that, so he really couldn’t have been so shocked about the abrupt subject change. He’d let it go for now, but he’d be damned if he would let Zayn ruin this for himself. Just as he opened his mouth to retort, his phone ringer started to ring loudly. (“Really, [LOVEFOOL](http://youtu.be/IwQbXrwYZAg)?” Louis had asked incredulously when Harry had changed his ringtone. “Don’t you think that’s a little too cliché and cheesy, even for you?” Yes, it was cliché and cheesy, and that is exactly how he liked it, thank you very much.) Zayn moaned loudly, falling onto his back on the floor.

“Tell loverboy he went off to uni, so I get you on the weekdays,” he continued to whine.

“You are SUCH a drama queen,” Harry laughed, pressing answer.

***

Louis could count the amount of times he’d been so overly excited to be reunited with his phone on one hand. This, was one of those times. Having finally left Danielle, promising to sit with her in all the classes they had together, he climbed the two flights of stairs to his room. After a small wrestling match with the door, he got it open and quickly threw himself on top of the electronic device sitting on top of his bed, just where he’d left it.

“Oh, baby, I missed you,” he crooned, stroking the screen affectionately before pressing the home key to light up the screen. His blue eyes sparkled as he saw the twitter notification waiting for him.

> @Harry_Styles: Dear @Louis_Tomlinson check out “[DANCING SHOES](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA5gJbAqt10)” by Green River Ordinance, woulddya? #HopeYouHadAGoodDay

The only time Harry tweeted songs to him anymore was to tell him something he couldn’t actually say on the social network, especially since their fans had grown exponentially over the summer. He, personally, adored them all for leaving such sweet messages for them, but Simon on the other hand, did not. Not that it mattered really, given they seemed to crack their little code anyway, but neither of them particularly cared enough to stop. Besides, it wasn’t like they were hurting anyone. 

Pulling his laptop from his bag, he opened it, quickly searching the song, and playing it obnoxiously loud because he had the room to himself and dammit, he could do that sort of thing.

“Put on your old black dress and grab your dancing shoes. Head out to the old bar Rose and we’ll dance away our blues. Spent all week waiting now my mind’s on you. Hold my loving arms, my loving arms are for you.” The singer crooned, accompanied by an acoustic guitar. His heart swelled at the words and he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around Harry’s neck and cuddle into him. Before the song could even end, he was choosing the popstar’s number from his favorite and pressing the phone to his ear as he lay back onto his bed.

“So, how was my baby’s first day?” Harry’s deep voice answered after the second ring. Louis felt a lightness in his chest hearing that voice, even if what he said had been dripping with ridiculous cheesiness. 

“You sound like a mother.” He heard Zayn’s voice in the background, making him laugh as he heard muffled thud and a small yelp.

“Get out of here, bugger!” He listened as Harry yelled jokingly at his best friend. “Anyway, how was your first day, babe?” He asked again.

“Oh, Haz, I forgot how much I hated school,” he chuckled. “But, I did make a friend! You should be proud of me!” 

“I would have been proud of you anyway,” Harry replied, voice oozing with sincerity. His cheeks pinked as he was reminded of the fond gaze from his morning’s dream. 

“How was your day?” He asked, unsure of what to say to that. A small, irritated groan rang through the phone.

“Li left a crabby, whiny Zayn with me like the right prick he is and I’ve heard nothing else besides his moaning all day,” he replied exasperatedly. 

“You sound like a worn out parent,” Louis chuckled, imagining Harry sitting on the couch as Zayn lay on the ground, beating his hands and feet into it as he threw a tantrum. 

“I feel like one,” he muttered. Opening his mouth to reply about how he’d help him with that when he got home that weekend, he was cut off by the sound of keys in the door. Sitting upright, he watched as the snorer from this morning waltzed into the room. Their eyes met as the door slammed shut. A small, cocky grin lit up his new roommate’s face. 

“So you’re the boy band fan, eh?” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?

He was tall. At least, Louis thought he was tall. It was kind of hard to tell actually. The enormous quiff he sported might have just been creating the illusion of height. As they held each other’s gazes, the door slammed shut but neither showed any sign of moving. 

 

“Hallo? Lou bear?” He heard Harry say, sounding slightly worried. He probably thought something had gone horribly wrong, like the dorm caved in on itself. It was kind of old. “Are you okay?” Was he okay? Well, no, he was about to have that awkward roommate meeting, the one where he would most certainly have to assert his alpha maleness so that he wouldn’t end up in one of those horrid roomie situations that made such good drama on all those shows on the telly. “Did someone just break in?” The voice on the phone grew even more troubled. Keeping his eyes trained on the boy at the door, Louis cleared his throat.

 

“I have to call you back,” he replied abruptly, not waiting to hear Harry’s reply before ending the call. He’d probably feel bad about it later, but right now he had more important things to tend to. His eyes slowly dragged down his roommate’s body, taking in his appearance. He looked like he’d just rolled out of bed to be honest. In fact, Louis was almost certain he was still wearing the clothes he’d been wearing when he’d practically tore the door off the hinges at that god awful hour of the morning. He felt his nose wrinkle involuntarily. 

 

Maybe his imagination was running away with him, but he was pretty sure he heard that old western shootout music as they continued to stare each other down, waiting for the other to make his move. (He was also could have sworn he saw a small, tumbleweed roll on the ground between them, but again, maybe his imagination was running away a bit.) Finally, the boy at the door opened his mouth to speak. 

 

“Nothing wrong with that, of course, the curly haired one is quite the looker,” he chuckled, walking further into the room and dropping his bag on his desk before standing in front of Louis and holding his hand out towards him. Yep, Louis already didn’t like him. (Not because he’d ever be jealous of anyone finding his Harry attractive or anything.) “The name’s Nick. Nick Grimshaw. You can call me Grimmy though, most everyone does.” Eyes flitting down to the hand that was practically shoved in his face, he took it gingerly shaking it quickly before dropping it again.

 

“‘m Louis. Louis Tomlinson.” He said, a little more curtly than he meant to, but really, could you blame him? The guy hadn’t made the best impression and then he hits on his boyfriend? Not that he knew that and sure it was a poster version of him but still.

 

“Sounds familiar. Ya do anything important, Tommo?” He felt his eye twitch slightly at the use of his nickname that he definitely did not give this Nick character permission to use. Then the question sunk in. It echoed that of Danielle’s earlier, which was worrisome because Jesus, how many people could he possibly meet that very obviously would be following Harry on twitter. (At least, that was the only explanation he could think of, which didn’t exactly make him like Nick more knowing that.)

 

“It’s Louis, and no, haven’t done anything important. Not a bit of importance, nope,” he said quickly, probably too quickly as his new roommate cocked an eyebrow at him. “Just, a boy coming back to uni after a little break is all.” 

 

“You sure?” Nick pressed, sitting on his bed and looking at Louis quizzically. “Because I am almost certain I know your name. And I’m pretty good with this stuff.” Why couldn’t he just drop it like Danielle?

 

“Yeah, mate, pretty damn sure actually,” even to him his voice sounded a lot angrier than was probably necessary, but if it got him to shut up, he could live with that. 

 

“Alright, no need to get snappy,” Nick responded, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “Just tryin’ to get to know the guy I’ll be living with is all. Sorry I asked.” All Louis did in response was nod his head before turning his attention to his phone, considering texting Harry and telling him he was sorry about hanging up on him.

 

“You must be in good with One Direction, huh?” Louis didn’t think it was possible to choke on air. Yet, here he was hacking and spluttering for breath as the question caught him off guard.

 

“Excuse me?!” He hacked out, looking over, wide eyed towards his roommate who had his eyes fixed on the poster on his wall.

 

“Well, I mean, not too many people get signed poster from them, especially not signed posters that say ‘To my biggest fan,’” he air quoted obnoxiously, narrowing his eyes at him suspiciously. “With… is that a winking smiley?” He honestly didn’t think having this poster would have caused so many problems. Really, he was going to kill Zayn when he saw him next. Before he could come up with a witty response— and by witty, he really meant some sort of vague lie that wouldn’t sound too much like one— [A LOUD SONG](http://youtu.be/F6ImxY6hnfA%20) started to sound from the bag sitting on Nick’s desk. “Hold that thought, it’s time for me to go welcome all the new students to our campus via our wonderful campus radio,” he said cheerily, hopping up from his bed and grabbing the bag he had just sat down. “We’ll continue this conversation later. Maybe you can get me in with Curly,” he laughed. “Check out the show! Later, Tommo!”

 

“It’s Louis,” he muttered under his breath as the door closed behind Nick as he ran out of the room, disappearing almost as quickly as he’d arrived. Sighing loudly, Louis reached for his phone to call Harry back. What a nosy bastard. 

 

***

 

The rest of the week went by about the same, though admittedly Louis did his best to avoid his roommate. It would be hard for Nick to continue to question him about why he seemed to know his name if he didn’t see him. (It was also kind of for Nick’s own good, because Louis really couldn’t be held accountable for his actions if he had to hear Nick say something suggestive about Harry again.) He and Danielle really did have almost every class together, only escaping the dancer’s presence for one of his classes, but given that it was statistics, that was probably for the best since he’d have to give it all his attention to pass. But now it was Friday and all he really wanted to do was go home, except for the fact that though it was only the first week, he was already drowning in homework. This would have been no problem, except he was almost positive if he went home, he wouldn’t get any work done whatsoever. (C’mon, in the battle of Harry Styles v. Homework, Harry won each and every time.) It was actually quite depressing for him to send the texts to Harry and Niall saying he wouldn’t be home this weekend, electing to try to give the illusion of being a good student. Though they both told him they were proud of him and that it was okay, Niall saying he looked forward to their weekly lunch date for the next week and Harry telling him it would all be worth it, but it still sucked. 

 

Sitting at his desk, he opened his laptop, pulling up the university’s website to log onto the portal that would tell him just what it was he was supposed to do for his homework for the weekend when he saw a little flashing icon in the top corner.

 

_**LISTEN TO BIRMINGHAM LIVE** _

 

It read. Maybe he was just putting off doing his homework, because procrastination had always been his weakness, or maybe it was just because he’d always been a sucker for blinking objects. Either way, he found himself clicking the link, which opened a pop out player. A pop out player that started to play his roommate’s annoying voice.

 

“Hallo there, my ever loyal listeners. All six of you! How I appreciate you lot, keeping ol’ Grimmy here company while I tell you uninteresting tales about my life and sometimes play songs I’m sure you don’t even care about,” he said, voice bright and chipper as if he were really having a conversation with someone. “To be honest, I don’t know why you keep coming back, if I were you, I wouldn’t put up with this torture, but hey, I guess some of us just have pain kinks, huh?” Louis could practically hear him waggling his eyebrows suggestively through the radio. What a git. The mouse hovered over the X that would shut him up as he continued to speak. “Now, I’m going to shut up for a second and play you some[RUDIMENTAL](http://youtu.be/oABEGc8Dus0), but as soon as I come back, I’m going to tell you about my week, and the roommate I seem to have acquired. You lot are gonna love him, I think he may know that boy band you keep requesting.” He quickly moved the pointer away from the player, staring at his screen in shock. 

 

Well, that was just great. Now he’d have to sit here and listen to his asshole roommate. At least the music was good. With that, he set forth to start his homework. Might as well do something constructive while he waited to see what Nick had to say about him. 

 

***

 

“Look, Haz, mate, I know I was the right git earlier this week, but if this is some sort of payback, well consider me paid back,” Zayn said as he watched Harry scuffle from the kitchen, back to the living room, looking disheveled and absolutely miserable. In fact, he’d been absolutely miserable since this morning when Louis had texted saying he wasn’t going to come home this weekend. On a normal day, he probably wouldn’t have known that, but given it’s all Harry had been talking about since, well, he had it down by now. The younger boy moaned as he flopped face first onto the couch, mumbling some sort of incoherent response at him as he let the limbs on the right side of his body hang off the furniture. “Yeah, I’m not even going to pretend I understood that,” Zayn sighed. Harry’s head popped up as he eyed his friend.

 

“Why did I tell Louis to go back to uni?” He whined, green eyes shining as he pouted. “Zayn why did I make him go back.” Like he knew the answer.

 

“Because you were being a good boyfriend, that’s why, now shut up, Chatty Man is almost back on.” He had been trying, honestly, he had, but given the fact he had watched Harry mope around the flat for the past three hours, scuffling his feet along the floor and making random moans of pain, he was about to go crazy. At least he’d just wanted some company while Liam was away. This was just like Harry was being a little black raincloud and he was three seconds away from making their trio a duo. He was sure Liam wouldn’t even notice, he was always off with Niall anyway. And by the time Li did notice, he was sure he could come up with a great alibi.

 

“You git, it’s a rerun,” Harry moaned, dropping his face back into the couch cushion. 

 

“That’s not the point!” Zayn cried in exasperation, grabbing the nearest thing (which, luckily for Harry, was a pillow) and launching it at the back of his pretty, curly haired head. A loud squeak erupted from his mouth as his head shot back up.

 

“What was that for!” He asked, shooting him the most accusatory glare Zayn was pretty sure he’d ever seen. 

 

“For being the most miserable twat all day,” he groaned, finally unleashing the torrent of built up annoyance. “I love you, Hazza, you know I do, but for fucks sake, the boy isn’t coming home for the weekend, he didn’t die!”

 

“Coming from the guy who couldn’t handle being abandoned for his best friend’s boyfriend,” Harry retorted childishly. That was it. Jumping up from his seat, Zayn launched himself at the couch, landing on top of the younger boy and jabbing him ruthlessly in the ribs with his fingers, causing him to squirm relentlessly.

 

“It’s different and you know it, you prick!” He said, continue to tickle his friend, knowing that there was nothing he hated more than being tickled.

 

“Zayn! Stop! No! I can’t breathe!” He cried, tears streaming down his face as he gasped for air.

 

“Are you gonna shut up about your stupid boyfriend?” Zayn questioned, still working his fingers into Harry’s ribs.

 

“But I just miss him,” he said, finally flipping around beneath Zayn and looking up at him.   “I miss him so much. And we have so much promo coming up that I don’t know if I’ll be here for the next couple of weekends.” His green eyes grew wide at the prospect of not being able to see Louis for weeks and fuck, how was he going to last on tour? Sighing loudly, Zayn relented his attack and just sat atop his roommate.

 

“Than why don’t you go to him?” He asked, genuinely confused as to why Harry hadn’t thought about it sooner. 

 

“It isn’t that easy, that’s why, it’s not like I’m allowed to be seen with him and shit,” he responded matter of factly. 

 

“So don’t, stupid. You were there earlier this week and no one knew the wiser. Just go incognito again and you should be fine.” To be honest, it didn’t sound so hard.

 

“What about his roommate, huh?” Harry raised his eyebrow, challenging the Bradford boy to come up with a solution to that.

 

“If his roommate is there, then you sneak away to the closest, cleanest closet, get in a quick shag and then head home. I really don’t see the issue here, Styles.” The younger boy hesitated, tossing the idea around in his head. He really did miss Louis. Missed him enough to jeopardize everything just a week into their new routine. “Look, I’m not really giving you an option,” Zayn said, breaking off his train of thought as he pushed himself off of Harry’s chest and headed towards his bedroom. “You’re going to change, you’re going to drive to his dorm and you aren’t going to come back until you’ve been shagged back into a state of mind that I can tolerate or until you’ve stopped moping around. Got it?” He shouted back towards him. Though Zayn was in the other room, he could practically hear his friend rolling his eyes. It was okay, he’d thanks him anyway. And if he didn’t, well, at least he’d be out of the house.

 

***

 

Okay, truth be told, Louis could have turned off the radio about an hour and a half ago. At least, it’d been that long since Grimmy— er, Nick, because he definitely didn’t like the guy enough to use his nickname— had informed his listeners about him, apparently something he’d been waiting to do to make sure that Louis wasn’t tuning in. 

 

“Ya see, I won’t name names, but you lot should know that his name sounds rather familiar for someone who isn’t important. And he has a signed poster on his wall from that little known band One Direction,” he’d said. “I’m pretty sure he has to have some sort of in with them, which is good for me because, well maybe they’ll drop by for a visit sometime and I can woo one of them, preferably that curly haired one, to the dark side. I’m not picky though. But trust me, faithful listeners, we will get to the bottom of this mystery. I’ll keep you posted.” It was kind of funny that anyone would be so invested in finding out about his life, now that he thought about it. It was even funnier that he seemed to think he had a chance with Harry, but that was another thing entirely because, well, maybe he was just a bit biased. If only he knew. But now, he really had no reason to still be tuned in other than the fact that, as much as it pained him to say it, Nick was really good at being a radio personality. That and he did have rather stellar music taste. 

 

So here he was, a particularly good remix of One Direction’s latest single blasting through his speakers— a single that he knew was written partially about him— when he heard the sharp sound of something hitting his window. Jumping nearly three feet out of his skin, Louis turned towards the window, which looked out into the night. Now, he wasn’t scared of the dark or anything, but there was something particularly unnerving about looking out windows at night, and honestly, he avoided it when he could. But as he considered turning back to his laptop and pretending he didn’t hear a thing, he saw a small rock fly up and hit his window.

 

“What the fuck?” He muttered, pushing up from the chair and walking slowly over towards the window. Peering down, hoping that there wasn’t anything terrifying, like an ax murderer (though why an ax murderer would be throwing rocks at his window, he didn’t know) a small shocked gasp escaped his lips.

 

Standing below, with an all too familiar hoodie pulled on and over his curls, was his Harry.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?

Niall knows he told Louis he didn’t mind that he couldn’t make it home this weekend. He had to say that, of course. His best friend deserved the world and he deserved to become everything he’d ever wanted, so he very well couldn’t let him know how he really felt about the situation. (For those wondering, he felt pretty damn bummed out about it.) He missed his loud, messy asshole. He missed annoying him and waking his lazy ass up in the morning for work. And he definitely missed him cooking for him. (Though now that he had Liam to cook him food, he realized that the he could only use the term cooking loosely to describe exactly what it was Louis did. Now that he thought about it, how did they survive so long?) Sure, he’d been spending all his free time with Liam, so that helped, but it didn’t make it any better when Liam had to go be a famous popstar and he was all alone in their flat, sighing loudly to himself and counting down to the weekend when Louis was going to be home. Now he didn’t have anything to look forward to, and no promise of any horror stories to vicariously live through. 

Okay, that was a lie, as he laid there on the couch, staring blankly at his TV that he hadn’t even bothered to turn on, Liam was on his way to the flat with some Nandos To-Go. So that was something to look forward too. And the snog that he was certain was waiting for him at the end of dinner was something to look forward too. And the “You’re About To Be Gone For Promo Work” blowjob he planned on giving Liam was something to look forward too. So yeah, maybe he was being a little melodramatic, but he just worried. It was something he didn’t mention, knowing that it made him sound paranoid, which maybe he was, but he really was scared that Louis was going to replace him with some cooler, smarter uni person who planned on doing more than working at a bookstore. It was a really stupid fear, he knew that. After all, Louis had been his best friend for HOW long? Of course he wouldn’t just up and replace him, right? He’d stuck around this long, it’d just be a waste to replace him now, right? 

He started to chew on the inside of his cheek worriedly as he started to dwell on the idea of being abandoned by his best friend. Luckily they had a lunch date coming up, so he’d be able to get his Louis fix. Finally, a loud knock sounded on the door as one of his favorite voices crooned from behind it.

  
“Deliiiiiiiverrrrrrrrry!” 

He was off of the couch so quickly, he almost didn’t remember getting up as he launched himself towards the door, only stopping momentarily to gather himself as to not look too terribly excited about Liam and their dinner. That wouldn’t be cool, and sure, he didn’t exactly worry about looking cool in front of Liam because… well, he was Liam, but he had spent a rather long time on getting his hair to look the perfect amount of messy so might as well try to look cool too. Throwing the door open, he eyed the smiling brunette standing at the threshold, wearing a plaid shirt, some jeans and shaking the rain from his hair with a plastic bag in hand. To be honest, Niall didn’t think he could look any better than he did in that moment and— screw being cool. Grabbing the collar of his shirt, Niall pulled the slightly startled singer into the flat, crushing their mouths together as he swiped at the door, slamming it shut. He couldn’t wait for that post-dinner snog, and he wasn’t going to. As Liam let out a small, pleased noise, Niall felt his previous thoughts being pushed out of his mind. He could continue all that tomorrow.

***

Louis knew he probably looked like an idiot just staring open-mouthed out of his window and down into the courtyard, but really, how was he supposed to react to seeing his boyfriend, who should be safely home in his flat standing outside his dorm room window looking like he’d just stepped out of some 80s rom-com. All he was missing was the boom box, which, was probably a good thing because he was certain that Harry shouldn’t call any attention to himself given he was in his “Visiting Louis” disguise. Even from where he stood on the second floor, and even though it was dark outside, he could see the bright smile Harry wore as he looked up towards where he stood. It took a few more moments before Louis realized that he’d have to go down and sign Harry in, which  was going to be interesting to say the least. Motioning down to him to wait a second, he headed back towards his computer, shutting off the music, grabbing his keys and throwing on the first pair of shoes he saw (his moose slippers). As he shuffled through the hall towards the stairs, he couldn’t help but feel the extra bounce in his step and the smile that was spreading across his face. He didn’t think he’d be seeing Harry this weekend and this, well this was a very pleasant surprise. As he walked through the lobby towards the front desk area, he saw his boyfriend standing just out of sight of it, watching him walk towards him with that crinkly eyed smile he smiled so well. He couldn’t wait to get him back up to his room and—

“Can I help you?” A not-so-happy sounding voice broke through his thoughts. Turning towards the voice, Louis saw the girl who was sitting at the front desk, one headphone hanging from between her fingers as she eyed him and Harry who, admittedly, looked rather sketchy standing in the corner with his hood pulled up and looking down at the ground. 

“Uh, yeah,” he replied, aware of the small snort that came from the boy behind him as he walked closer to the desk. “I need to sign in my friend?” He actually hadn’t thought about this part. How was he supposed to sign Harry in without anyone finding out who he was? Oops. He watched her eyes flicker back towards the figure behind him, raising an eyebrow as she bit her lip nervously. She probably thought they were some sort of murderous duo or something. Great. 

“Him?” She asked, as if maybe there were someone somewhere else he was referring to. If only she knew who was really standing just feet from her. 

“Yeah, him,” he chuckled nervously, afraid to look back in case he did something that might give him away. Throwing another glance over Louis’ shoulder, she pulled out a clipboard from under a stack of papers on the desk. 

“What’s your name and your room number?” She asked, pulling a bright pink pen from a cup.

“Louis Tomlinson. Number 225,” he answered. She nodded and flipped the clipboard towards him, pointing a perfectly polished nail at a blank rectangle.

“Sign.” She ordered, handing over the pen. Quickly, he scribbled out his name and handed it back to her, turning to leave when she cleared her throat.

“And his name?” She asked. Oh. He really hadn’t thought that far. 

“Uhm,” he spluttered, feeling his cheeks turn red. “His name?” God, he sounded stupid.

“Yes, his name,” she said, looking more suspicious now. 

“Edward Horan,” Harry’s voice answered instead. The girl’s eyes darted back over Louis’ shoulder as he felt himself stiffen, certain she’d recognize his voice. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded and wrote it down. 

“Sign.” She said, pointing at another blank rectangle. As Harry took the pen and wrote his “name” down with a flourish, Louis watched as she squinted her eyes at him, as if she were trying to figure something out. “Do you ever get told you look a lot like Harry Styles?” She finally said, causing Louis’ heart to stop. This was it. They’d only made it a week before they’d been found out. Looks like he’d have to drop out of uni again. But as he felt as if his world was crumbling around him, he watched Harry smile his award winning smile and hand the pen back to the front desk girl.

“All the time,” he laughed before looking toward Louis and nodding his head toward the staircase he’d just come down. “Shall we?” He asked, already heading to it before getting an answer. Feeling the gaze that was on him, he quickly followed, hoping and praying he’d never run into that girl again.

***

By the time the got up to his room— a total of two minutes— Louis was certain he was about to die. Literally, explode into a a fiery explosion of flames that would in turn destroy the whole entire dorm. He needed to touch Harry, and he needed to touch him now. How he had thought this not going home for the weekend thing was ever going to pan out was beyond him, because now as he had walked just an arms length ahead of him, he was almost certain he wasn’t going to make it if he didn’t thread his fingers into those curls and tug on them until Harry moaned his name loudly. In fact, he could feel the tension between them as he brushed past once they’d finally got to his room to unlock it. His fingers trembled as he tried to grasp the key, which shouldn’t have even been a task given he had two keys on his keyring. He felt fingers ghost across his back, making the trembling worse as he tried to shove the key into the hole. God dammit, what was the point of this door anyway? Finally, he heard the lock give way with a slight protest and he triumphantly threw the door open. Being ever the gentleman, he let the curly haired singer in ahead of him before he entered, carefully closing the door and locking it behind them. Before he could even fully turn around, he felt Harry’s hand wrap around his wrist, pulling Louis toward him so quickly that he bumped into his chest. Arms snaked around his waist, pressing him even closer into Harry’s body. Breathing in the scent of his cologne and the rain that had started to fall, he looked up, taking in the glint in those green eyes and those plush pink lips he’d been daydreaming about. 

“Hey, babe,” Harry breathed, enjoying the way his breath made the wisps of hair dance across Louis’ forehead. “I missed you.” The deep timbre of his voice sent a rush down Louis’ spine. He just sounded so sincere, and it really wasn’t helping him feel any less like he was about to explode out of his skin if he didn’t get Harry’s clothes off. 

“You just saw me at the beginning of the week,” he said, trying to joke but sounding more like his air supply was being cut off. Harry shook his head slightly, rolling his eyes and lowering his face until their cheeks were pressed together.

“A week is entirely too long,” he whispered into Louis’ ear, gently tugging at the lobe with his teeth. And really, that was all Louis needed. His hands slid up Harry’s back, making their way into his hair and tugging his head back until his face was in front of his. His blue eyes sparkled as they met Harry’s, asking for permission, though he knew he didn’t need it. After the green eyed boy’s small nod, Louis pulled himself up onto his toes to press their lips together, enjoying the taste of Harry’s bottom lip as he sucked it into his mouth.  The taller boy pressed into the kiss gently, reveling in the feel of their bodies pressed together and Louis’ teeth dragging over the skin of his lip. He felt the fire start to pulse under his skin as his boyfriend’s tongue darted over the area he’d just tugged on, opening his mouth to let him in. He’d have to thank Zayn for kicking him out of the flat, he thought to himself as he pushed his hands under the hem of Louis’ shirt, running them over the soft flesh of his back. A soft mewl rolled from the older boy’s mouth as he pulled back from the kiss and looked up at Harry, pupils wide and black, swallowing the crystalline blue around them

“Bed?” He questioned, before leaning back in and pressing a kiss just below the singer’s jaw, working his way down the line of his pulse. They stumbled back clumsily, never breaking the kiss that was quickly turning into nothing but fire, tongues and teeth. Yeah, Louis definitely was wrong to think he could have gone without this. As they did their awkward dance backwards towards the bed, Louis felt his hip collide with the corner of his desk and under any other circumstances, he might have made a big show of it. After all, it did hurt like a bitch, but Harry’s nails drug down his back in that same moment and, well, he’d hit a desk? 

He felt the younger boy’s lips curl into a smile as they kissed, not missing the way Louis was moaned at the sensation. He’d be lying if he said that moan wasn’t one of his favorite sounds in the world, if not his favorite. Their progressed finally jerked to a stop as the back of Louis’ legs hit the bed, alerting them that they’d reached their destination. The older boy slid his hands from Harry’s curls to the front of his hoodie, gripping the fabric and switching their positions so he could lower them both onto the mattress. He traced the singer’s bottom lip with his tongue as he straddled him, hands working to get the top off. Maybe it was because all he could set his mind on was getting his mouth on every inch of Harry’s skin, but he just couldn’t seem to find the end of that bloody jacket. He sat back, staring pointedly at the boy beneath him with his flushed cheeks and reddened lips who responded by raising an eyebrow suggestively and winking at him.

“Like what you see?” He purred, running his hands up Louis’ thighs and looping his fingers in the belt loops of his jeans to tug him closer.

“I’d like it more if I could see more of you. Why are you wearing so much clothing!” He growled, tugging violently on the hoodie that Harry donned. “Get rid of it, Styles,” he ordered. 

“Oh, I like it when you get rough,” Harry laughed, removing his hands from the older boy and grabbing the hem of his hoodie, slowly pulling it, and the shirt underneath it, up as he wiggled suggestively, humming a strip tease tune under his breath. Before the fabric even had time to fall from his fingers to the floor, Louis was tracing the swirling ink along the singer’s collarbones, watching as goosebumps arose along his skin. Heat started to roil deep in his belly as he replaced his fingers with his mouth, nipping at the soft, marked skin before kissing his way down the younger boy’s chest towards his stomach. 

“Lou.” It was soft and low and he was almost certain Harry didn’t even realized he’d whispered his name, but it sent a thrill through him all the same. Smiling wickedly to himself, he licked a stripe up between the boy’s abs as his fingers worked at the belt at his waist. Belts I can deal with, he thought to himself as he undid the metal clasp and tugged the leather free. He made quick work of the button and zipper as he sucked a love bite into the flesh of Harry’s hip. As he shimmied the pants down, Louis watched the smile the flickered across his boyfriend’s lips as he threw his head back. Pulling down his boxers as well, Louis wrapped a hand around the curly haired boy’s already hard cock, causing him to jerk upward into the touch. “Lou,” he whispered again, only this time a little louder as his fingers searched for something, anything to grasp onto. Smiling to himself, he lowered his head and ran his tongue slowly down the base of his cock before taking it all in, twisting his hand slightly. A particularly sinful moan fell from Harry’s lips as his fingers finally carded through Louis’ hair, gripping at the base of his neck as he began bob his head rhythmically. He felt the singer’s hip buck as he continued, running his tongue gently over the tip and peering up through his eyelashes just in time to see the look of ecstasy that passed over Harry’s face. The younger boy gripped the sheets with his free hand, gasping loudly as Louis did that thing with his tongue that he loved so much. Stars had started to pop behind his eyelids and he knew that any moment now he would come, but he couldn’t find the words to warn him. Humming lowly in his throat, he tried to pull Louis away, only for him to press closer, letting him hit the back of his throat. The heat in his belly started to overflow as he felt Louis’ fingers pry his own away from the sheets and thread them together causing his back to arch as all the tension was finally released. 

Slowly pulling away, Louis swallowed and placed a light kiss on Harry’s hipbone before peering up at him beneath his eyelashes. He always thought the singer was beautiful, but now, completely blissed out and gazing down at him as he was doing now, he was certain he was the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen. His fingers caressed Louis’ cheek as he smiled lazily at him. 

“I love you so much,” Harry breathed as the older boy pressed into the touch.

“I love you too, Haz.”

***

After the single most heated hand job Louis had ever had in his life, the two were cuddled together on his small bed, a tangle of limbs as Harry nuzzled his face into Louis’ neck as they both fell into the best sleep either had received since Louis had left.

***

It was still late when Louis jolted awake. That was pretty much all he knew as he looked around the dark room, trying to find the source of what had awoken him. Harry was still pressed against his back with his arms wrapped around him, snoring lightly, so it hadn’t been him. And it most certainly wasn’t his alarm because he didn’t believe in alarms on the weekend. As he tried to regain coherent thought, he heard the sound again, only this time, it all clicked. His eyes grew wide as they darted toward the door, watching as the lock turned.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?

To say that Louis felt like his heart was about to leap out of his chest was probably an understatement. Actually, as he heard the knob grinding as it was twisted by his intrusive roommate, he was pretty sure it was about to explode. Of course, that would mean he’d be dead by the time Nick did open the door and that could very well be a blessing. Then, while Nick freaked out about there being a dead guy in his room, Harry could sneak away and no one would know the wiser. Guess that wouldn’t be a bad reason to go, he thought to himself, eyes widening further as the slow motion turn finally reached its climax and he prepared for the door to swing open. Except, it didn’t. A loud thud sounded as Nick threw his shoulder into the door, expecting it to open as well, only to find that it wouldn’t budge. Relief filled Louis’ veins as his eyes darted up towards the deadbolt to see that it was locked. He would have to remember to thank whatever divine power there was that had given him enough foresight to lock the deadbolt in the heat of the moment. The moment was ruined, however, by the loud banging on the door.

 

“OH C’MON!” Nick yelled from outside, attacking the door— okay, maybe not attacking but it sure as hell sounded like it to Louis— and wrestling with doorknob. 

 

“Loubear?” Harry grumbled sleepily, scooting closer towards him as he peered up at him with one half opened eye. “What the hell is that?” My worst nightmare, Louis thought to himself.

 

“No time to explain, babe, you gotta hide, okay?” He actually said, hoping out of bed and scurrying to grab all the clothes that were strewn across the room. Jesus, he didn’t remember either of them wearing so many pieces of clothing. He threw the clothes into his closet and turned towards the younger boy. Yawning loudly, Harry sat up, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand as he tried to work the other through the tangle of curls atop his head. If Louis didn’t feel like he might actually have a heartattack from anxiety, he probably would have let him know that it was the single cutest thing he’d ever seen. Be that as it may, the compliment would have to wait.

 

“OPEN THE DOOR, TOMMO!” The assault on the door continued, and maybe he was being overdramatic, but Louis was pretty certain he saw the hinges start to give.

 

What is that guy’s problem, he thought, glaring at the door as he grabbed his boxers from Nick’s bed. (He didn’t mean to toss them there, scout’s honor.) “C’mon, Hazza, you have to get up for me, okay?” He breathed, tugging the clothing back on. 

 

“But I don’t wanna,” Harry whined. It was just like him to not want to wake up, but did he really need to be that way now?

 

“TOMMO! I HAVE TO PISS! OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!” As Louis started tugging on the still half-comatose boy’s arm he noted the slight slur to his roommate’s words. Great, that prick is drunk, he thought bitterly as Harry tried to flop back down on the bed. 

 

“C’mon, babe, I’ll make it worth your efforts,” he said, letting his voice dip low as he leaned in to press his lips to Harry’s ear in an attempt to seduce his boyfriend awake. It usually had a 95% success rate. With a sigh, the singer stood, causing a triumphant sound to unfurl from Louis’ chest as he started to push him towards his oh so small closet. 

 

“You’re lucky I love you,” Harry muttered, eyes still half-closed as he allowed himself to be guided by his Louis. After all, he’d never steered him wrong before. Throwing the door to the closet open, the shorter boy gave him a slight push into it. 

 

“Love you too,” he breathed, closing the door gently.

 

“LOUIS WHATEVER THE HELL YOUR MOTHER MIDDLE NAMED YOU TOMLINSON OPEN THE DOOR!” Nick cried, unleashing another round of earth shattering knocks on the door. (Again, that may be an over exaggeration.) Unlocking the deadbolt as quietly as he could, Louis threw the door open.

 

“YA COULDN’T OPEN IT YOURSELF?!” He yelled back, glaring at the taller boy who stood in the doorway. Nick held the glare, returning it with one of his own and Louis could swear he saw flames behind those hazel eyes of his. Damn, he looked pissed. Then the smell hit him. “Jesus, you smell like a whiskey bottle,” Louis growled, covering his nose with his hand and fanning at Nick with the other dramatically. 

 

“Just get out of the way!” His roommate huffed, pushing him out of the way as he stalked straight into the bathroom. Well, that was rude. Turning towards the hallway, he saw a group of students who had started to gather to see what all the fuss was about. He also saw a lot of raised eyebrows at his current state. He could only imagine what he looked like right now with mussed hair and lovebites littering his collarbones. Mustering the brightest smile he could manage, he turned it loose on the crowd. 

 

“Nothing to see here, folks,” he said smoothly before closing the door and dropping his forehead onto it with a soft thud. Well, now he’d just have to figure out how to get his naked boyfriend out of the room without his roommate seeing. That should be fun. Sighing loudly, he turned toward the room and came face to face with Nick. (And whether he screamed like a girl or not is really none of your business.) 

 

“How about we agree to not deadbolt the door if we both aren’t in the room, yeah?” He said bitterly, alcohol tinged breath blowing across Louis’ face.

 

“How about you not be a drunk asshole?” Louis shot back. 

 

“I’d rather be a drunk asshole, than a sober one,” Nick hiccuped, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Seriously, dude, you need to lighten up. Normal uni students go out and party.” 

 

“Well, for your information, Nick, I wanted to knock out the heaps of homework I already had.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie, because, well that was why he’d stayed in. Well, aside from the fact he didn’t actually get invited to any parties, but still. Even so, it sounded like a lie, a fact that Nick apparently wasn’t drunk enough to miss. Then his eyes finally settled on Louis as if they were actually taking in his appearance for the first time. A devilish glint flickered in his eyes.

 

“Were you having a wank, Tommo?” He asked, chuckling to himself. “Should I go? Because if you need a few more minutes, I can go for a quick walk and come back.”

 

“Shut up, ya prick,” Louis growled, pushing past him towards his bed, highly aware that Harry was still cooped up in his tiny little closet and there was no way for him to get him out. Nick raised his hands in mock surrender as Louis sat down on his mattress, still glaring at him. 

 

“Calm down, tiger, it was just a joke. Besides, I was gonna crawl straight into bed anyway, so you can just finish up once I’m dead to the world.” Louis wondered how much trouble he would get in if he pushed Nick out the window. The ground was wet anyway, so the fall probably wouldn’t kill him, just get him to shut up and get him out of the way. He opted to not reply. If he didn’t give Nick any reason to stay awake, he’d fall asleep sooner and he could get Harry out of here. He waited patiently as he watched his roommate tug at the hoodie he wore in an attempt to get it off. It was a rather funny sight actually. Apparently in the case of Drunk Nick v. Hoodie, hoodie seemed like it was going to prevail. 

 

“Help me out, could ya?” Nick cried, arms stuck helplessly in the tangle of material he’d managed to get himself into. On the list of things that Louis never wanted to do, helping his annoyingly talkative— albeit really good radio host— roommate undress was probably at the top.

 

“If I help you, will you shut up and go to sleep?” He growled, feeling his anxiety start to peak again as he imagined something going awry, like Nick drunkenly mistaking his closet for his own and discovering the naked popstar in the closet. (Though he had to admit it’d make one hell of a story.) A small noise of agreement sounded from the mass of tangled fabric and limbs. With a sigh, he stood from the bed. Louis, my boy, you are way too nice for your own good, he thought to himself.

 

***

 

Harry didn’t like to be woken up. He especially didn’t like being woken up from one of the best sleeps he’d ever had the honor of having to be shoved into a tiny little space that he was sure was supposed to function as a closet. Though, how Louis got all his clothes into it was beyond him, because he’d seen the massive closet that boy had in his apartment and there was no way that wardrobe was going to fit in here. As he had sat in the dark space, growing colder and colder thanks to his lack of clothing, he started to wake up fully. As he listened to Louis and his roommate, Harry realized that he had yet to meet him and well, understandably so, but still. Curiosity was killing him. He needed to see the guy that Louis seemed to be unable to stand. A small peek wouldn’t hurt, right? Especially if the guy was as drunk as he sounded, there was no way he’d notice if the door of the closet opened just enough for Harry to size up the guy his boyfriend would be spending the semester with. Breathing in steadily, he pushed on the door gently, sure to only open it an inch or two. Just enough to see. Pressing his eye to the crack, his gaze landed on the guy standing in the middle of the room with his hoodie wrapped around his head. 

 

“Help me out, could ya?” He heard the guy ask through the fabric.

 

“If I help you, will you shut up and go to sleep?” Louis had said, looking every bit of unamused as he sounded. He couldn’t help but chuckle. He honestly couldn’t see why Louis didn’t really like the guy, from what he’d heard he didn’t seem like he was so bad. Of course, maybe he could chalk it up to first week of school jitters. He watched as Louis stood from where he sat on his bed and trudged over to the boy standing there helplessly tangled in his hoodie. He watched as his boyfriend grabbed the edge of the top, and tugged at it unsuccessfully. 

 

“How can anyone get legitimately stuck in their hoodie?” Louis sighed, moving his hands to where the fabric hand bunched under his roommate’s armpits and around his neck, pushing up on the top. Harry watched as the hoodie creeped up further, Louis’ hands brushing against his roommate’s arms as he helped free the boy. Finally, the trapped boy’s head pulled free of the hoodie, exposing a rather bedraggled quiff and a bright smile. A slight stir of jealousy caused him to move uneasily as he watched his boyfriend’s roommate smile down at him.

 

“Thanks, Tommo!” He said cheerily, tossing the top onto his desk. 

 

“It’s Louis,” he heard him say exasperatedly as if this wasn’t the first time he’d had to tell him that. Nick crawled into his bed, curling onto his side and looking up at Louis with a warm smile, he had returned to sitting on his bed. 

 

“Turn off the light, would ya, babe?” He said, winking cheekily at Louis. 

 

“You’re such an asshole,” Louis muttered, reaching for the switch near his bed and flicking the light off. Okay, yeah, maybe Harry got it now. He wasn’t really liking this Nick guy either.

 

***

After what seemed like hours, the loud, room shaking snores of Nick’s ripped through the silence of the darkened room. With a sigh of relief, he leapt off the bed and ran toward the closet, opening it slowly. There Harry lay, curled into a ball, fully clothed and and glaring in his direction. 

 

“Hi,” Louis breathed, smiling at him, hoping to turn that frown upside down.

 

“You pushed me into a closet,” Harry said, staring up at him with a bemused expression on his face. “You can’t tell me you don’t see the irony.” 

 

“You aren’t funny,” he replied, rolling his eyes as he offered the curly haired boy his hand. Taking it, Harry allowed himself to be pulled up into Louis’ arms.

 

“I’m so funny,” he said, smiling at his boyfriend. “And, I think you owe me for waking me up.” Smirking down at Lou, he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. He was such a cheeky bastard. Pushing up onto his toes, Louis pressed a quick chaste kiss to Harry’s lips before pulling away. Quickly, he grabbed the hood of his boyfriend’s jacket and pulled it over his curls before steering him towards the door. As quietly as he could, he opened it and pushed the singer out into the deserted hallway.

 

“Put it on my tab, yeah?” He smiled, blowing him another kiss. Harry lifted his hand, snatching the imaginary kiss from the air and stuffing it into his pocket.

 

“Consider it done, babe!” He called over his shoulder as he turned to head down the hall. As Harry turned the corner, he felt his shoulders sag and his smile vanish as he heard the door click shut behind him. Yeah, he definitely didn’t like this roommate so much after all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?

Louis dropped his head onto the table with a loud thud. 

 

“I’m telling ya, Nialler, it was the most nerve-wracking experience of my young life.” He concluded his story of his weekend. He and Niall planned a weekly lunch for those odd occasions he couldn’t come home, not that the blonde was complaining. He always looked forward to trying new restaurants. And though Louis knew his best friend wasn’t known for being the best about moral support, he still didn’t expect the burst of laughter that erupted from beside him. “Wow, thanks. Great lot of help,” he moaned into the wood of the table top. 

 

“I can’t help it! I’m just imagining you shoving a naked, half asleep Harry into a closet and it’s positively hilarious,” he cackled, wiping a tear from his eye. It did sound horrifying though and he was damn happy that he never had to worry about that happening to him and Liam. (Though there was that one time when Zayn forgot to knock. Needless to say he knocks on every door now. Even the pantry one.) “But really, the guy sounds like he was absolutely plastered, you probably could’ve gotten away with telling him he was seeing things,” Niall said, a hint of laughter still clinging to his words as he patted his forlorn friend on the back. A self-pitying whimper was all he got in return. Leave it to Lou to be a complete and utter drama queen about something he could now check off his uni checklist. What was he even supposed to say? “He probably doesn’t even remember you being weird about it.” A loud moan erupted from the pile of Louis still on the table top. Obviously that was not the right thing.

 

“This morning he asked if we needed to work out a schedule for ‘Tommo Lonely Time’,” he said, air quoting above his head before dropping his arms onto the table as well, just narrowly missing Niall’s Dr. Pepper. Swiping up the glass and moving it out of his reach, Niall shook his head though he knew Louis couldn’t see him.

 

“I mean, you could sacrifice a bit of your dignity and say yes, then you won’t have to worry about it,” he shrugged. “It could work to your advantage.” Another long moan as Louis appeared to be rubbing his face into the table. 

 

“That would mean giving iiiiiin,” he whined. He couldn’t do that, if he did that he was certain he wouldn’t ever hear the end of it. At least this way, the joke would grow old and tired and well, as long as he could keep from enacting any of his plans for his roommate, they both should be able to make it out of this alive.

 

“Prideful prat,” Niall said under his breath.

 

“Who’s side are you on, anyway!” His head shot up, flailing his arms and just narrowly missing the waitress as she rounded the corner with their burgers. She squealed, quickly grabbing at her tray before slamming it down on their table. “I… am so sorry,” Louis muttered, turning the brightest shade of pink Niall had seen him turn since, well probably since that time he tripped up the stairs in front of Harry. At least he didn’t nearly kill the waitress before the food came out, Niall thought as he watched her glare fix on Louis, this way we don’t have to worry about there being any spit in their food. She placed the food down in front of them before turning away, not asking about anything else they might need. 

 

“Well, that was rude, it isn’t like I’m the one that tried to off her,” Niall said, picking up a fry and then shoving it into his mouth. “What if I needed something,” he said around the piece of fried potato. With another moan, Louis pushed his food to the side and dropped his head onto the table again. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Lou,” the blonde groaned, worried his food would get cold before he could get Louis to see that it would all be okay. Sure he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him now, but eventually he would be able to look back on all this and laugh. At least, Niall could look back on it and laugh. Wiping his fingers free of grease and salt on his pants, he patted his best friend on the head as he spoke. “Just, pretend it didn’t happen, maybe keep Little Louis in your pants for awhile and don’t have Haz over. At least, not until you can work either an escape route or Grimmy’s schedule.” He felt Louis’ head move under his hand as he picked it up to glare at him.

 

“Nick. We call him Nick. Grimmy connotes that we are on nickname terms with him,” he growled before finally sitting up and sighing in defeat. “You really think that if I just act like nothing happened, everything will be okay?” Popping another fry into his mouth, Niall nodded.

 

“Would I ever steer you wrong?” He asked, winking cheekily at Louis as he swallowed his food. 

 

“Yes, actually, you would,” the brunette finally laughed, grabbing a fry from his plate. 

 

“There’s my Louis,” Niall smiled. “Now shut up and let me eat my burger, you twat.”

 

***

 

It was finally Friday. Thank all that was holy. Louis had almost been certain he wasn’t going to make it to this point. Alright, maybe he was being a touch dramatic. Niall had been right, of course. Pretending it didn’t happen seemed to work out pretty well, though his subconscious made him an insufferable asshole so that could be why Nick had let it go. He couldn’t help it though. It’s just that every time his roommate opened his mouth, he had to make sure to get in the first word to negate the conversation from what he always assumed would be some sort of snide remark about the situation and he wasn’t sure he could handle it without just breaking down and screaming “I WASN’T WANKING YOU ASS I WAS WITH MY BOYFRIEND” because that would just open a whole new can of worms. 

 

He’d also spent his free time in the room trying to map out escape routes, as Niall had also suggested, but that wasn’t going nearly as well given there were really only two exits and he really didn’t want to resort to pushing Harry out the window. But the week had honestly gone by so slow, he was certain he was going to go mad. Even Danielle couldn’t make it go by quicker, even though she was her chipper, usual self. 

 

“Something up, gorgeous?” She’d asked when she had plopped down in the seat beside him in their macroeconomics class at the beginning of the week. The fact that he obviously looked like something was up could not have been a good sign.

 

“What? Noooo, just, typical Monday,” he said lamely, shrugging and training his eyes on the front of the class though the professor was still rummaging through his bag. 

 

“Oh really?” She replied, not buying it for one moment and, well, maybe Louis could use a female perspective on things.

 

“My roommate walked in on me and my boyfriend, but he didn’t see him because I pushed him into a closet before he could get in but now he keeps making jokes because he thinks I was havin’ a wank which isn’t true but I can’t tell him that,” he let out in one burst of breath, turning to face the girl beside him. 

 

“Oh,” Danielle said, eyes wide at the sudden onslaught. 

 

“Yeah,” Louis sighed, turning away again. Then she started laughing. “It isn’t funny, Dani!” He quipped, shrugging at the students around the room who eyed them curiously. 

 

“I’m sorry, hot stuff, it’s just, it’s really funny! Didn’t you put up like, a sock on the doorknob or something?” She chuckled, trying to stifle her laugh with her hand. Obviously she wasn’t much better than Niall. “Isn’t that the universal rule? Sock on the knob means go elsewhere?” Even if he hadn’t had Harry’s tongue in his mouth at the time, he was almost certain he wouldn’t have taken the time to find an acceptable sock to hang on the doorknob.

 

“My roommate was so drunk he probably wouldn’t have even noticed a sock,” he shot back, regretting his decision to tell her.

 

“If he was so drunk, why didn’t you just let him in and tell him he was seeing things?” She said earnestly, laughter still dancing in her eyes. She was definitely no better than Niall.

 

“Do you know my Irishman by any chance?” He asked, dead serious. There was no way they had a near exact idea without knowing each other.

 

“Who?” She asked blatantly.

 

“Nothing. Just, what should I do?” If she said the same thing as his best mate, he’d take it as a sign that that was the thing to do. She shrugged daintily, biting into her pen as she thought.

 

“Pretend it didn’t happen? I mean, if you don’t want him to know you’re into lads,” she finally said after a moment. Breathing out a sigh of relief he nodded. Looked like the universe had spoken.

 

“Alright, that’s what my best mate said.” She smiled around her pen as he turned his attention to the front of the class again. Another moment passed before she spoke again.

 

“But when do I get to meet the boy who captured my Louis’ heart?” He felt the heat rise in his cheeks as he tried to come up with a good reason as to why she could never ever ever meet Harry. Luckily, he didn’t have to, as that’s when the professor had decided to start class.

 

And so he had taken the advice, and though he was sure Nick thought he absolutely hated him at this point because he may have overdone it, at least he’d awoken that morning to a “Mornin’ Lou” instead of some quip about his libido. (He’d even used his name and not called him Tommo, which actually clued him into the fact that his roommate very well may think he loathed him.) 

 

Eyes trained on the clock at the front of the class, he started to count down the seconds to when he’d be free to catch the first bus home. The boys may be in Italy doing promo work, but he could still sleep in his own bed in his own room. As soon as the professor dismissed the class, he was out of his seat and across the courtyard in what might have been seconds. In fact, he was sure he left one of those cartoon dust clouds. That would at least explain the funny looks he was getting. (Of course, it could also be because he was so out of shape that he having a hard time breathing but that was neither here nor there. He could catch his breath later.) Not willing to wait for the elevator, he took the stairs— two at a time— and threw the door to his room open, already prepared to grab the prepacked bag sitting on his bed and be out of there before anyone (Read: Nick) even knew he had been there. That, of course, all went down the drain when he was met by his roommate sitting at his desk, feet propped up and leaning back in his seat as he read through a book, pencil balanced carefully between his teeth. Well damn. Raising an eyebrow at Louis’ appearance, he took the pencil out of his mouth.

 

“Hey there, killer, who’re you running from? The coppers?” He asked in what sounded like a serious tone, which was weird to hear because now that Louis thought about it, he didn’t think Nick had once talked to him without sounding like he was making a joke. Now, he probably would have ignored him, grabbed his bag and just continued on with plans if their room wasn’t so small that with the way Nick was sitting, he obstructed the path to his bed. He probably could have climbed over his own desk to reach his stuff but even he could admit that that was pretty far. So, biting the bullet, he took a deep breath and replied.

 

“Haha, Nick, funny, no I’m just trying to catch the first bus home so I can miss the traffic,” he said, trying to sound dignified as he did, but only managing to sound like someone who hadn’t done exercise in years who had just run across campus. (Okay, that’s exactly what he was, but that wasn’t the point.) Nick stared up at him blankly as he stood there, eyeing his bag. “So, uh, could you move?” He asked. 

 

“Oh, yeah, sure, sorry,” Nick started, dropping the chair back down onto all four legs and then scooting closer to the desk to clear the path. 

 

“Thanks,” Louis nodded, grabbing the top of his duffel and turning to head right back out the door. 

 

“Louis!” Nick called as he reached the door. He really didn’t want to interact more than he had to, because he was certain that his roommate couldn’t possibly still be acting serious. He must have realized that he hadn’t gotten in his daily sexual innuendo. But still, he couldn’t just walk away. He believed in karma, after all.

 

“Hm?” He hummed, turning to face the seated boy. He scratched the back of his head, gathering himself before meeting Louis’ gaze and smiling.

 

“I’ve been a right prat since we’ve met, and I can’t help but feel like you’ve got the wrong impression of me. I mean, I am a git, but I’d like to think I’m a lovable one, and this will be a mighty long year if we hate each other. So I was wondering if I could extend the invite to you to join me at a party tonight. It isn’t much, but I noticed you don’t go out and trust me when I say this year will not be a fun one if you don’t go out at least once a month,” he laughed to himself. “You might actually go a bit mental if you don’t. Anyway, I know you wanted to get home, but you can always catch the bus in the morning and my mates are a good time, I promise! I just, really don’t want you to hate me for all the wrong reasons.” He concluded. Did Louis actually feel some sort of stir of gratitude towards Nick for inviting him to a party? What was going on? Maybe this was the Twilight Zone. Or maybe he’d actually passed out from the lack of oxygen to his brain from running here and he was dreaming all of this. He was certain Nick thought he hated him, and therefore would want nothing to do with him. But it seemed he actually wanted to be friends. And… okay, did he really want to go to a party tonight instead of sleep in his own bed, no. But did befriending his roommate to avoid any massive awkwardness far outweigh that? Maybe. He chewed on his lip as he thought it over. He did say he didn’t want him to hate him for all the wrong reasons, so maybe there were right reasons to hate him. Anyway, one party didn’t make them automatic best friends anyway. It was just a party. No, what the hell was he thinking, he wanted to go home and hug the pillow that smelled like Harry and pretend it was him. Well, okay that sounded really depressing, at least at a party he’d get some social interaction. But at home he’d get some social interaction, because he had Niall. But—

 

“So what do ya say, Tommo?” Nick asked, mischievous glint back in his eyes and joking tone alight in his voice. He should say no. He really should. He should go home. 

 

“Yeah. Alright.”

 

***

 

The [LOUD THUMPING OF THE MUSIC ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qklFpvW7IME)and the bright lights were almost more than Louis could handle with the amount of alcohol in his system. He couldn’t help but think back to the last party like this that he’d been to and well, maybe he was biased because it was also the first time that he and Harry had kissed and sure maybe he didn’t quite remember it because he blacked out and woken up to his best friend but still. That was a lot to live up to and while the alcohol was doing its job, he felt absolutely no need to go out on the dance floor because none of those people were his Hazza. That, of course, made him sound like an absolute buzzkill. He wasn’t being one, he promised. In fact, he really was having a good time. Nick’s friends really were a good time, and if they weren’t currently engaged in the raciest bout of Truth or Dare he’d ever witnessed, he would probably be with them right now. But he had no desire to leave hickeys on anyone’s hipbones when they weren’t connected to the curly haired singer. He stumbled towards the plush couch, trying to not spill any of his drink on it, though he wasn’t exactly sure how well he was doing given that he couldn’t exactly see straight. (Maybe he shouldn’t have this next drink after all.) 

 

Taking a few steadying breaths, he tried to recap the night in a vain attempt to sober himself up. It was all a blur really. He remembered arriving to the co-op just outside of campus, and he remembered running into Dani and consequently doing body shots off of each other. He remembered being dragged around and introduced to Nick’s friends, and he remembered that Nick was actually a really cool dude once he got to know him. Really, they had a very similar personality, and they liked a lot of the same things and they were both fun loving people. He and Nick actually could be great friends. (Though once he was sober he probably wouldn’t ever admit to it. Ever.) But other than that, he couldn’t actually remember how he got to the point where he was seeing three of everything. He was probably going to hate himself in the morning. A heavy weight plopping down next to him pulled him from his reverie. Though it came a few seconds late, he let out a small squeak, unsure of his new comrade.

 

“Hiya, Tommo,” Nick slurred, throwing an arm around his shoulders. “Having a good time?” He asked, genuinely curious. At least, as genuinely curious as someone as inebriated as him could sound. 

 

“Surprisingly, yes,” Louis hiccuped, fixing his eye on one of the three Nick’s and speaking to that one. “But I think I should get back soon so I can get some sleep before I have to catch a bus.” He said. Nick nodded and smiled. 

 

“No problem, Tommo! I’ll get you home!” He said, valiantly, hopping up and offering a hand to Louis. Eyes flickering between Nick and his outstretched hand— at least, he thought his eyes were flickering between the two— Louis couldn’t help but think that they’d come a long way in one night. With a bright smile, he took his hand, and was hauled up onto his feet. “Back to campus!” Nick cheered, dragging him towards the door.

 

“Back to campus!” He echoed, laughing the whole way.

 

***

 

Harry couldn’t sleep. He usually couldn’t when they traveled to different countries. He couldn’t help it. It was the weekend and Louis would be going home and he wouldn’t be there. And he really didn’t want to have to wait until the next weekend to see him, especially now that Louis had said that they should try to not meet at his dorm. He understood that, really, he did, but ever since that night, he couldn’t help but have a deep rooted mistrust in his boyfriend’s roommate. He knew Louis would never do anything, but he just couldn’t shake the way Nick had smiled down at Lou after he’d helped him get untangled in his sweater. Maybe he was just being paranoid. He was known to be the jealous type. But that didn’t stop him from laying there in the dark, staring up at the darkened ceiling and listening to the soft breaths of Liam on the bed next to his. (Zayn had won the solo room in the single most epic game of Spoons the trio had ever played.) It also didn’t really help that Louis still hadn’t returned his goodnight text. Not that that was a big deal, he very well could have fallen asleep already, but there was a feeling at the back of his mind that was nagging him and the longer he dwelt on it, the more it annoyed him that he was in Italy and Louis was still in England. Just two years, he thought to himself. Two years until Lou is done and then he’ll be free to travel if he wants and hey, a lot can happen in two years. Besides, Harry, you’re the one that suggested he go back to school anyway. He sighed and turned onto his side, facing the nightstand with his still blank phone and alarm clock. He really should get to sleep. They’d be waking up in a few hours to head to a radio station, and sleep deprived Harry was even worse than preoccupied Harry. He started to allow his eyelids to slip shut when his phone lit up, partially blinding him and illuminating the room. His arm shot out and he grabbed it opening the message before even checking who it was. It was a mobile alert from Twitter informing him of a tweet from Louis. Clicking the link attached, it opened the mobile app and his eyes locked on the picture that opened along with it. It was quite blurry and dark, but he could make out Nick’s face, and Louis’ next to his from behind his shoulder, arms outstretched and holding the phone to capture the image. 

 

@Louis_Tomlinson: ridin th grimmyexpres!!!!! #pigybaksrfun #druktwet

 

He bit his tongue as he glared at the tweet. He probably wasn’t going to get any sleep after all. 


	7. Chapter 7

Niall sat at the dinner table, arms folded under his chin as he stared at his phone glumly. He’d changed into his old jumper long ago, about two hours after Louis was supposed to be home-- not that he was counting-- and was kneading the loose threads hanging from the hole in the left elbow as he continued to stare at his phone. The baked ziti-- Louis’ favorite-- had gone cold about three and a half hours after Louis was supposed to be home-- not that he was counting-- and now it just looked pitiful and diseased as the cheese looked crusty and not in the good way. And the reply he was waiting for had yet to arrive, six hours, 13 minutes and 35 seconds after Louis was supposed to be home-- not that he was counting. 

 

Okay, who was he kidding, he was and it was pitiful. But he couldn’t be blamed for worrying. Not really. What other explanation was there for his best friend to still not be home from uni, complaining about how much pasta he’d consumed as they lounged on the couch, watching all the trashy TV shows Niall had dutifully recorded for his cable-less friend other than he was obviously dead. Run over by the bus as it pulled in to pick him up at the bus stop or perhaps he was kidnapped and sold into some scary sex slave ring. (Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have watched Taken 2.) Whatever reason, Niall was worried. So much so that he’d texted Harry in hopes that Louis’ boyfriend of all people would actually know where the hell he was. Except he hadn’t. Harry’s best guess was that he’d fallen asleep, and he was sticking with it, but Niall knew better. Louis had been practically jumping out of his skin to come home when he’d seen him earlier that week. There was no way he just fell asleep. But he didn’t tell Harry that, sensing that believing just that was the only thing keeping the singer from hopping onto the next plane to come home. So there he sat, vaguely aware of how creepishly quiet it was in the flat as he waited for his phone to show any sign that his friend hadn’t been left dead in a ditch somewhere. It was then, and only then, that his screen finally lit up-- seven hours, 47 minutes and 10 seconds after Louis was supposed to be home-- alerting him to a tweet from one @Louis_Tomlinson.

 

@Louis_Tomlinson: ridin th grimmyexpres!!!!! #pigybaksrfun #druktwet

 

Quickly clicking on the link that led to a twitpic, Niall felt himself glare at the screen as he took in Louis and what he only could assume was the infamous roommate. 

 

“I thought we weren’t on nickname terms, Lou,” he grumbled, sliding the phone face down on the table and pushing himself up from the table. Might as well go to bed, he thought bitterly to himself as he walked towards his room where he may or may not have slammed the door. Ripping the jumper from his frame, he flopped belly first onto his bed and pressed his face into his pillow. Well, Liam’s pillow really, given that whenever his boyfriend spent the night, Niall liked to use him as the pillow. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the heady scent that was just so Liam as he tried not to acknowledge the fact that he was making the pillow wet with traitorous tears. It sucked being an angry crier. 

 

It wasn’t like he _needed_ Louis, per se. It was more of a, he was looking forward to not having to spend the night alone again thing. He knew what he was getting into when he started dating an internationally famous pop star, but it didn’t make it suck any less when he was away, and who else to understand that amount of suckage besides his best friend who also had to go through it. (Okay, maybe he needed him a little bit.) 

 

Of course, it seemed Louis had found a better way to spend his time. He pressed his nose even further into the pillow.

 

_Please don’t replace me_.

 

***

 

Harry was having a pretty intense staring contest with the table he and the boys were sitting at. Admittedly, the table was winning, but he could feel the bitterness rising up his throat and leaving a sour taste on his tongue as he let his thoughts from the previous night continue to swirl through his mind. The tweet flashed across his mind’s eye causing him to wrinkle his nose and shake his head as he reached for the cup of coffee the radio hosts and graciously made the trio for their interview. He hadn’t talked much during it, in fact, now that he thought about it, he couldn’t recall speaking at all, but it was probably for the best. Any and everything he came up with sounded nothing short of callous after his sleepless night. Oh well, he’d just pretend to be invisible and do what Harry did best when he was in a mood, which was stand back and hope no one noticed him. It usually worked, well, worked as well as it could being over 6 ft tall and famous. What he didn’t know, however, was that as he continued to try and out stare inanimate objects, Liam was taking full notice of just how quiet and withdrawn his friend really was.   Which is why, when Harry silently got up to head towards the bathroom, he was completely unaware that he was bringing along a chaperone. 

 

“Okay, Styles. Talk to me,” was all he said as he swung the bathroom door shut, causing the poor guy to jump out of his skin.

 

“Jesus, Li! Way to give me a heart attack! What are you, trying to be a fucking ninja, or something?” Harry cried, hand flying to his heart as if he could keep it from jumping through his chest. 

 

“No, a fucking ninja would have come from the ceiling and you know it. Now spill. What’s up?” He said, crossing his arms over his chest and fixing his best Daddy Direction gaze upon Harry. 

 

“Nothing,” he replied smoothly, shrugging a shoulder and staring at Liam defiantly. Most people probably would have accepted it and moved on, but not Liam. Not when he knew Harry well enough to see the way the left corner of his mouth twitched, the way it always did when he lied. Maybe he could convince other people, but not Liam, who sighed in response.

 

“C’mon, Haz,” he said, leaning against the door, making it apparent that he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. The taller boy sighed and just shook his head.

 

“Really, Liam, it’s nothing.” Another quick twitch of the mouth. 

 

“The same nothing that had Niall upset last night?” He pressed. It wasn’t like he didn’t already know that Louis had gone off the radar last night. He had texted Niall about it, after all. He didn’t exactly know all that transpired exactly, but what he’d managed to gather was that there had been radio silence on Louis’ end and Niall had been worried. And knowing Harry, he would have taken that worry up a notch or two. Or ten. Harry finally looked down as he shuffled his feet awkwardly, letting out a breath.

 

“I just had a hard time sleeping is all,” he answered shakily, like it was hard for him to say what it was he was trying to say. “Niall texted me, and that got me worried and coupled with jet lag, I haven’t slept a wink. It’s okay though. He’s fine. I’ll just drink some more coffee,” he drawled, still looking down. The brown eyed boy waited, knowing that there was more that Harry wasn’t telling him, but from the set of the curly haired lad’s shoulders, it seemed that was all he was going to get. 

 

“Fine, Harry,” he said, sounding defeated as he pushed away from the door and walked towards the taller boy and rested a hand on his shoulder. “But you know that I’ll always listen to you. Me ‘n Zayn both. We’re in this together, mate. And believe it or not, I actually understand what you’re probably feeling.”  Another pause, waiting to see if the green eyed boy would respond. Still nothing as he stared down at his shoes. “Just know that I’m always here if you need me,” he sighed before retreating from the bathroom. 

Harry knew he meant well, and he was grateful. Really, he was. It was just that Liam wasn’t what he needed right now. 

 

He needed Louis.

 

***

 

You know how people wake up gradually? Slowly awakening into their senses and while they still may be groggy or cranky, it isn’t such a terrible process? That wasn’t how Louis woke up. On the contrary, Louis actually woke up quickly, completely disoriented and confused as to why, exactly, he was in his dorm and not his own bedroom. Bolting upright, it was then, and only then, that he realized what a terrible mistake that actually was. It felt like someone had stuffed a jackhammer in Louis’ head while he slept and let it reek havoc on the inside of his skull while a wave of nausea rolled from his stomach and up his throat. Thrusting a hand to his mouth, he leapt from the bed, only stumbling three times before making it to the bathroom and dropping to his knees in front of the toilet just in time to unleash what seemed to be the entire week’s meals. He was never going to drink again, he thought as he quickly flushed and moaned at the sound. 

 

What had he done to deserve this, he wondered as he propped his forehead on his arm, working harder than any one person should to not vomit everywhere. Then the previous night all came back to him, and.... well, okay he shouldn’t be so shocked that he felt like he’d just been steamrolled. (He knew he’d hate himself for this.) 

 

With a steadying breath, he let his eyes slip shut and waited for the churning of his stomach to subside, which it eventually did an hour later. Standing from where he crouched, enjoying the buzzing in his numb legs because it at least kept his mind off the fact that he was never going to be able to look at the cafeteria’s tacos the same way again without thinking about what had just been purged from his system-- Fuck you, vodka, the tacos had been the best thing they served-- Louis wobbled back into the room. He sighed in relief seeing that Grimmy was nowhere to be found. At least he wouldn’t also have to be haunted by what just transpired in the bathroom like Lou would undoubtedly be. Spying his phone laying on his desk, he picked it up and pressed the home button to check the time. 

 

8:43 AM, it read. 

 

“Fuck,” Louis breathed, eyes quickly scanning for his duffel bag. 

 

The bus left at 8:50. 

 

***

 

To say the bus ride was a long one would be an understatement. The biggest understatement of the whole god damn year, in fact. Not only did he find himself on what seemed to be the first bus to ever be built, meaning it lurched uncontrollably whenever it could, but Harry couldn’t talk because he was doing interviews all day, Niall seemed busy and then to top it all off, his phone flat out died. It would have been nice if his drunk self had taken the time to plug it in, at least. 

 

Of course, it hadn’t actually died until after he’d already seen the replies to a tweet he didn’t even remember posting. He stared in horror at the amount of responses hashtagged #WhatTheHellIsAGrimmy, all wondering the same thing. Where the hell was Harry. It wasn’t that Louis hadn’t grown accustomed to the “Larry” fans, it had just been awhile since they’d all seemed so... feisty. But as he typed up a message he hoped would appease them, his screen suddenly went blank and, well, that was the end of that. Couple that with the fact that he was jolted forward every few seconds from the bus lurching as it struggled to get back to the city, it was safe to say that Louis making it back without throwing himself out a window was a miracle. 

 

As the bus lurched, yet again, Louis closed his eyes and focused on not redecorating the back of the seat in front of him with last night’s poor choices.

 

He just couldn’t wait to be home.

 

***

 

Louis took it back. He could wait to be home. Especially since Niall seemed hell bent on taking full advantage of using his hangover from hell against him.

 

“Niaaaaaaall,” he whined, head flopped to the side as he blearily stared at the TV.

 

“Yeah?” The blonde asked angelically from the kitchen where he’d “accidentally” knocked over their whole pot collection. 

 

“I said I was sooooooorry,” he continued to moan, waiting for the ringing in his ears to go away. He really was sorry though. To be honest, he’d thought he’d texted Niall to tell him he wasn’t coming home last night, but apparently he’d gotten sidetracked and hadn’t actually hit send on the message. So when he went to show Niall that he had, in fact, texted him, he was met with an unsent message, which had caused him to sheepishly apologize for making Niall worry. Though, it seemed the Irishman was hellbent on exacting revenge on him, not that he could blame him. It just wasnt fun being on the receiving end of Niall’s revenge, was all. 

 

“I know, buddy,” Niall chuckled, plopping down on the couch beside Louis and handing him a hot pocket that he’d graciously made him. “Doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun is all. I mean, it seems you sure did,” Niall said nonchalantly, leaving the sentence open ended like he had more to say. Louis shrugged.

 

“It was pretty fun. My first uni party, ya know? And hey, me and Nick don’t hate each other anymore, so that’s a good thing, right?” He said, taking a large bite of the pocket of pizza and enjoying every bit of grease that came with it. 

 

“That’s good,” the blonde said, shifting slightly and sounding distracted. Louis brushed it off as he continued to chew on the piece of pizza heaven and stare at the TV without really seeing it. 

 

“So maybe we won’t have to resort to killing him and burying him in some field,” the brunette said, laughing a little and elbowing Niall in the ribs. There was a long pause as they both stared blankly at the rerun of The X Factor.

 

“Just don’t replace me, yeah?” Niall laughed, disguising his fear with what he was best at-- humor. He punched Louis lightly in the shoulder as he licked the grease off his fingertips.

 

“Like I could ever replace you, you adorable little shit,” Louis chuckled, playfully ruffling his friend’s hair before standing up. “I’m beat though, so I think I’m going to take a nap. See ya in a few?” He asked, stretching and letting all his joints pop in the most satisfying of ways.

 

“Yeah,” Niall said, smiling up at him. “I’ll make sure to give you a proper wake up,” he laughed. Louis rolled his eyes and turned to head towards his rooming, completely oblivious to the way Niall’s laughter dried up and his smile fell. 

 

_Please don’t replace me, he thought again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This..... was a filler chapter and those of you who waited so long for it deserve better. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, I swear.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?

Louis pressed his face further into his pillow as he was dragged slowly out of his deep sleep by a weight dropping down onto his mattress. Eyes still shut, he was only vaguely aware of whoever, or whatever, had joined him crawling up on his mattress and then wrapping a warm arm around his waist. A thick moan escaped his lips.

 

“Niall, wakin’ up to your ugly mug in my bed once was one time too many, tanks” he groaned, voice heavy with sleep as he pushed back into the heat of the body behind him anyway. He wasn’t ever really one to say no to a cuddle, you know. A small chuckle caressed the sensitive spot behind his ear before a pair of soft lips pressed a gentle kiss to it. 

 

“Poor Niall. I’m sure Liam wouldn’t agree that his mug is ugly,” Harry’s deep timbre rumbled through his chest and vibrated against Louis’ back, causing his eyes to snap open. 

 

“Harry!” He squeaked, fighting to turn to face him. Maybe this was a dream. A delusion brought on by his excess of alcohol last night and lack of water. Yeah. That had to be it. You could be delusional from a hangover, right? Harry laughed as he loosened his grip on Louis’ waist, letting him finally roll over. His blue eyes sparkled as he took in the sight of Harry, curls falling precariously over his face as his jade eyes watched him through the thicket of chestnut. Reaching out his hand, he ran his fingers along the singer’s forehead to brush the hair away, letting them rest there for a moment. “I’m obviously having a very nice dream,” he purred, “because I could have sworn my Harry had a lot of promo in Italy this weekend, which included a hot date with some Italian models and cannolis that he was very specifically ordered to bring home.”

 

“I don’t remember being ordered to bring home Italian models,” Harry smiled unabashedly. Louis rolled his eyes and flicked him on the forehead he had just uncovered.

 

“Oh, this can’t be a dream because you wouldn’t be so cheeky,” he replied sarcastically through his smile. “But seriously, where are my cannolis?” The curly haired boy feigned hurt as he clutched at his heart.

 

“I’m wounded! You only want me for my ability to bring you foreign pastries!” He cried. “But to answer your question, they’re waiting for you on your countertop.” 

 

“Good,” Louis smirked before leaning forward and pressing their lips together. His tongue flicked out and traced the curve of Harry’s bottom lip, tasting the faint hint of chocolate and ricotta cream, which only caused him to smile more into the kiss as he pressed closer. Harry’s teeth nipped back at him, catching his lip in return and sucking it into his mouth. 

 

“I missed you,” Harry mumbled into his mouth as his hand worked it’s way behind his neck and gripped at his hair as the kiss became messier and more heated. He pressed further and further until he was on top of Louis, slowly crawling over him to straddle his waist. “I missed you so much,” he breathed. All the blue eyed boy could manage was a small whimper as he nodded gently, never letting their lips break their connection. He missed Harry, and he missed being able to do this all day every day. He never wanted to sound too melodramatic but knowing that he couldn’t just call Harry up and have him there in five was like having a huge chunk of his life missing. Like there was an empty void in his chest at all times and it wasn’t completely full unless he was with him. It was a void he could function with, but it always just felt so much better when it wasn’t there. And when Harry was sucking on his throat as he currently was. 

 

The younger boy rolled his hips, causing Louis to whimper louder as Harry’s lips moved back up his jawline and to his lips. Their rhythm suddenly felt desperate, like he was trying to convey some point Harry couldn’t bare to speak aloud. Louis’ veins felt like they were on fire, his body moving on its own as he knotted his fingers in Harry’s shirt to pull him closer. All he wanted was Harry to be everywhere all at once and to never leave. 

 

Then Harry pulled away. 

 

“I love you, Louis,” he said, pupils blown and lips swollen and red as he stared down at the pink cheeked and breathless brunette below him. “You know that, right?” He pleaded. Louis felt his eyebrow quirk up curiously.

 

“I know that I love you, with every fiber of my being,” he replied matter-of-factly. There were very few things that Louis was completely sure of, in fact, and that was at the top of the list.

 

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Harry bit out, rolling off of Louis and onto the bed beside him, staring up at the ceiling and no longer looking at him. “I would drop it all, just to be able to walk on the street and hold your hand. I would drop it all to take you out on a real date. I would drop it all just to be able to visit you at your dorm and not have to worry about being shoved into a closet because your roommate came home early.” The tone that the singer’s voice had filled with worried Louis as he turned onto his side and placed a hand over Harry’s heart. It beat a strong, steady rhythm beneath his warm skin. 

 

“I know, Harry. But you must know that I love you so much, that I’d never ask you to do any of that.” He nuzzled the spot just underneath Harry’s jaw, breathing in his cinnamon and clove scent. He felt Harry’s heart beat quicker beneath his hand. “I just need you here, where you’re supposed to be, when you can be.”

 

“Sometimes I just wish it could be easier,” Harry muttered, covering Louis’ hand with his own. 

 

“Yeah, but easier wouldn’t be nearly as fun, would it?” The older boy chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “Besides, if you gave up your life of travel, however would I get such awesome goodies?” He felt his boyfriend’s chest move under his hand as he laughed, the dimple that he loved so much forming in his cheek as he smiled. “There’s my boy,” he grinned before pressing a chaste kiss to Harry’s cheek. “Now, are you gonna finish what you started, you asshole?” Harry laughed louder this time as he rolled his eyes.

 

“If I must,” he quipped before pulling Louis’ sheets over their heads.

 

***

 

Zayn watched as the latest contestants of The X Factor performed upside down. Well, there weren’t the upside down ones, really. He was hanging over the couch in the trio’s flat, legs over the top of it and head dangling off the end. The original plan for the rest of the day, and the rest of the weekend for that matter, had been promo. Promo, promo and more promo. Of course, he fully supported Harry and Liam’s— but mostly Harry’s— decision to feign a flu epidemic in the One Direction camp to get out of it. It wasn’t like they would have any answers that the interviewers and fans hadn’t heard a million times just like the interviewers wouldn’t have any questions that they hadn’t been asked a million times. However, he’d expected them to be home for at least a couple hours to make sure Zayn got settled or found some way to spend his time rather than lie here in various positions on the couch and watch shoddy reality TV. (He’d already done the conventional sitting position, the laid out position and the bro out position. He was running out of options. There really are only so many ways one can sit on a couch, after all.) But no. They literally walked into the flat, left their bags in their rooms, and were out the door before it had even had the chance to swing shut. 

 

Now, he was happy for them. Really, he was. Nothing really brought him more joy than knowing his two best friends were, well, filled with joy. And Louis and Niall were great lads, and knowing that they were happy was a bonus too. But he couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. Like he should have someone he was returning home to, too. Someone that he would peer pressure the others into faking serious illness for, so he could hop onto a last minute flight and annoy the driver into driving a little more than the legal speed so he could run into their flat, toss his bag on his bed and head back out. 

 

Actually, he already knew exactly who he knew that someone should be. The same someone that he couldn’t actually confess those feelings to. You should just tell her, Harry’s voice echoed in his mind. I’m sure she won’t run. Maybe he could tell her, he thought to himself before shaking his head vigorously. Or maybe he could just throw himself off their balcony, it’d probably end the same way, with him crushed. 

 

He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone and unlocked it. It opened to his last text from Harry reading

 

i made it dont wait up ;)

 

Lovable prat, Zayn thought as he stared at the message. Harry deserved it, though. He thought that he and Liam didn’t see that he had been positively miserable this morning, but at this point there really was no way to hide anything from each other. (And he would know. In fact, Zayn was pretty certain that at some point in their relationship, they’d become telepathically bound.) It was worrisome, because there was no way he could handle Harry looking so completely shattered the whole time they’re on tour like he had been this morning. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone look so completely lost as he had just stared at the table in front of him, ignoring the interview completely. He chalked it up to sickness, and maybe it worked for the interviewer, but he knew better. There was something up with him and Louis, but he wasn’t sure what, and Harry didn’t seem like he was going to budge on details. Not that he’d even know how to properly advise his friend anyway. When it came to love stuff, well, he wasn’t exactly the best. 

 

He needed someone to talk to. Someone who wasn’t on the inside who would have a completely unbiased and helpful outlook on the situation. In case Harry did ever decide that he wanted the help. (And maybe even if he had to ram the help down Harry’s stupid, hard-headed throat.) Zayn glared at the phone as he realized that he’d opened a message to Perrie. Traitorous thumb. 

 

But, it wasn’t a confession of love or anything. No. It was coffee between friends because Zayn needed advice and who better to give advice than one of the easiest people to talk to? Right? Right. She wouldn’t know the wiser, and she wouldn’t run.

 

You should just tell her. 

 

“Shut up, no one asked you,” Zayn growled while his thumbs typed up a text.

 

hey perrie long time no chat. need some advice and thought you could help. meet at our coffee shop xx

 

Before he could change his mind, he stabbed the send button and then dropped the phone onto his chest. You should just tell her.

 

***

 

Harry loved having Louis tucked close to his chest, even if it meant that the wisps of his unruly bedhead tickled his nose. It was well worth the hour long struggle to make Zayn and Liam believe that there were far more pros than cons to playing hooky for the weekend upon returning to their hotel room between interviews. 

 

“It’s not like they can get mad at us if we’re sick! We’re doing the right thing by quarantining ourselves, ya know. People should be thanking us,” he’d argued passionately. 

 

“Except for one small thing, Haz,” Liam had interjected. “We aren’t sick!” Zayn had nodded along, but only half-heartedly. Harry was sure he’d won Zayn over a few points into his argument because, hey, who wouldn’t rather be at home instead of being questioned repetitively for hours by interviewers who, more often than not, couldn’t even get their names straight. But of course Liam had to be the hard sell. He wouldn’t be the responsible one if he wasn’t. 

 

“But they don’t know that!” He had pointed out. “Besides, don’t you miss Niall? Liam, we’re a few weeks from leaving for months! Months, Liam! Months!” Harry emphasized each exclamation with a sharp poke to Liam’s chest. He watched as the older boy faltered, whatever argument he had prepared dying away as he glanced at his phone laying on the coffee table in front of him. “They already think I’m feeling ill, and since you roomed with me, it’s completely plausible that you would be feeling sick too. And how could Zayn get out of being sick? Too slow, he wouldn’t. We get to forego all the boring questions and go home. Home, which we won’t see for months!” 

 

And with that, they found themselves on the first flight they could find out of Italy and back home to London. Back where they belonged. Louis shifted in his sleep, pulling Harry’s hand closer to his bare chest. He snuggled in closer, enjoying knowing that Louis was here with him and not with his roommate. He knew he was being irrational and, well, jealous. But he couldn’t help it. He’d meant everything he’d said to Louis. He would give up the life he’d grown to know if it meant being able to should the blue eyed boy just how much he meant it when he said he loved him. And that scared him. It scared him to no end knowing that he had given his heart up so completely after protecting it for so long in fear that anyone he did give it to would use him for his fame and break it. He was terrified that that fame could ultimately be their undoing. And he was afraid that he could never be as he was before Louis. A scary thing it is, love. He could kind of understand why it freaked Zayn out so much.

 

“Haz,” Louis breathed in his sleep, causing his heart to stutter, even though he had heard his say his name in his sleep hundreds of times now. That feeling was what made it all worth it, he thought to himself, yawning quietly. Harry hooked his chin over Louis’ shoulder as he let the warmth envelope him and his eyes grow fuzzy with sleep. A bright glow from the nightstand caught his attention. Raising his head slightly, he looked at the screen and frowned.

 

'Grimmy' flashed across the screen as Louis’ roommate called. Carefully pulling his hand free of his boyfriend’s grasp, Harry reached over and ignored the call. You get to see him at school, he thought bitterly. Here, he’s mine.

 

Returning his arm to Louis’ waist, the sleeping boy grasped it and pulled it back up to his chest as he breathed a content sigh. Harry returned his chin back to Louis’ shoulder and let his eyelids droop. With a few deep breaths, he had slipped into a warm and comfortable sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is! The long awaited return of Lovebirds! It’s uh, it’s been awhile and I’m truly sorry. I have a confession to make. I lost touch with this one, I did. With so much going on in my life, I lost the connection I had with this story, but I didn’t want to say anything because, well, a lot of you really like Tweethearts and Lovebirds— that, or there’s one of you who just really likes it and asks about it frequently, in which case you’re kinda awesome. But I just couldn’t let you know that I had completely lost faith in myself to continue writing this story. I guess you could say I had a hard time believing that I had to let go of this thing just yet. So I’ve been spending a LONG time trying to rekindle that fire, if you must. I won’t lie, it took a lot, and it took like, $30+ at the movies for This Is Us, but I think I’ve got a little something going again. Admittedly, this is one of the shortest chapters I think I’ve posted, and you guys probably deserve more than that, but I am getting back into the swing of things and, I dunno. I kinda liked this one and felt like dragging it out would just make it seem like I was trying too hard. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, those of you who have stuck out the wait! I’m sorry, from the bottom of my heart, that you had to wait so long! I love you!


	9. Chapter 9

Louis breathed in through his nose, and out through his mouth as he stared blankly at his computer screen. He couldn't believe midterms had snuck on him like they did, but here he was, eyes staring at the bright screen of his laptop as he tried to memorize the various marketing theories they were currently on in his marketing class. The fingers of his right hand danced over the skin just under his jaw where Harry had managed to suck a love bite so dark that, though it’d been two weeks, was just now nearly faded into his normal tan skin. A small smile flitted across his lips as he remembered the singer pushing him into the pillow the morning he was to return to school and nibbling the pulse point.

 

“Haz,” he’d whined, squirming in a failed attempt to get out from under the taller boy. “You’re gonna leave a mark.” 

 

“Exactly,” Harry had smiled into his neck as he continued to worry the spot between his teeth before sucking on it gently and tracing it with his tongue.

 

Of course, the mark didn’t go unnoticed by Nick, who managed to make a comment on it before Louis had even managed to shut the door behind him.

 

“You, my lad, did not have that abysmal mark on your neck when you were with me the other night,” he had drawled from where he sat on his bed, back against the wall, books spread around him and pen hanging from his mouth. “Cheeky little git, you didn’t tell me you had a boy back home.” 

 

“How do you know it’s a boy?” Louis shot back, already snappy thanks to the fact that he was back to this too small room with the person that he wasn’t exactly enemies with anymore, but someone he really didn’t need an interrogation from.

 

“Please, Tommo--”

 

“Still Louis, tanks.”

 

“-- You are about as likely to take a girl home as I am, which, in case you didn’t know, is completely unlikely. But do tell. Was it good?” Before he could have even answered, Nick had continued to blather on. “Oh, of course it was, look at you. All tousled and love bitten with that goofy smile. You probably got a shag in before you came here, didn’t you? Oh, you did, you cheeky little git.” All Louis had managed to do was roll his eyes before dropping his stuff on his bed and flopping down beside it, doing his best to ignore his roommate. A tactic that, unfortunately, rarely ever worked. 

 

“So, are you gonna show me who he is?” He asked in a hushed tone that reminded Louis of school girls gossiping. What did end up shutting Nick up, was Louis’ complete and utter refusal to share any details at all. “Ugh, you’re so annoying,” Nick had moaned loudly. “First you don’t tell me why I recognize you, now you won’t share about your sordid affair. I’ll figure it out, you know.” The taller man probably didn’t mean it to sound threatening, but it sent a small shiver down his back all the same.

 

Since then, the following two weeks had flown by in a blur of classes and work and Nick dropping some comment under his breath. Time had gotten so far out of his hands that by the time he realized it had been two weeks since he’d visited home, it was already too late to decide to go home for the weekend. Of course, it wasn't like Harry and Niall didn't understand, they were empathetic to the uni struggle, but he couldn't help but be down knowing that he was letting them down again by not coming home. A small growl escaped his throat as Nick pushed into the room, letting the door slam shut behind him. If he were being completely honest, Nick hadn’t been so entirely bad. Since the party, he did find himself considering them friends, albeit, friends who occasionally annoyed each other. Like when he’d randomly ask if that “dreadful hickey from hell” was ever going to disappear, or say, right now. (To be fair though, he’d probably be annoyed with just about anyone right now. It was this segmenting consumer markets chart, he swears.) 

 

“Hey, Tommo,” his roommate said cheerfully, dropping his bag on his bed and plopping down heavily beside it. He just raised his hand in a curt wave, hoping that Nick would take the hint that now was just not the time. “Well, someone seems to be in a mood,” the taller boy chuckled from where he sat, watching Louis’ back as he ignored him. 

“Bout time you get in a good lay, huh?” Nick prodded. Please just stop talking, Louis thought to himself as he attempted to draw the many charts from memory for the umpteenth time. “Oh, don’t be like that, love, you know I’m only teasing,” Nick sighed, the bed rustling beneath him as he pulled his legs up underneath him so he was sitting cross legged. The silence grew thick as Louis felt eyes staring at him intently, which made goosebumps ripple across his arms. The tension was finally cut when his desk rattled as his phone lit up and shook with a text from Danielle. Hissing at it, he picked it up and tossed it at his bed. Nick chuckled again as he pulled out his own phone, which had also gone off, presumably with the same text from the dancer. 

 

***URGENT*** PARTY TONIGHT. FORGET THAT MIDTERM YOU’RE STUDYING FOR AND GET YOUR ASS TO MY PLACE TONIGHT. XX

 

Reaching into his bag and pulling out a piece of paper, the taller boy scribbled out the address and directions to the sorority house listed and put his phone away. 

 

“So, Lou-Lou, how long you planning on studying for that midterm for?” He said in a tone sweet enough to cause a cavity, already knowing the answer. The poor git had been studying the whole damn week, and he was pretty certain he’d only racked up about 10 hours of sleep for the past five days. Normally, he wouldn’t intervene in other people’s stress, but he was going to go crazy if he had to deal with another silent night in his dorm room because even the sound of a pin dropping set his roommate off. 

 

“Until I know I’m going to pass, that’s how long,” the tense boy growled, and Nick was certain he felt the temperature of the room drop 10 degrees. He was so over this.

 

“Did you know, Tommo, that stress actually causes you to forget important things, so no matter how hard you study for that test, with the amount of stress you’re exuding, you’re going to forget.” You have to give him some credit, it was the only fact he remembered from his psychology class. 

 

“Gee, thanks, Nick. Hearing all my hard work is for naught really makes me want to ask why you could possibly be asking about how long I plan on studying,” Louis replied, the eye roll apparent in the near painful level of sarcasm.

 

“I’m just saying that you should step back for a second. Since living by my no stress rule, my grades of gone up a full letter grade. It’s quite helpful, you know,” he said simply, picking at his thumbnail in hope of feigning indifference. “Plus, at the rate you’re going, you’ll be certifiable by the end of the night. So, please, for the love of God, put the notes away, and come to Dani’s party with me.” The room got quiet again as Nick waited for an answer, certain he could hear the gears grinding in Louis’ head. 

 

“Hm,” the blue eyed boy hummed. “How about, no.” He finally replied in a clipped tone, before continuing the chart he’d been working on. 

 

“You’ve cut me deep, dear Louis, you have!” He cried, clutching dramatically at his heart and falling back on his bed. After a moment with no response, he lifted his head to see his roommate ignoring him. “Seriously? Nothing at all?”

 

“Nothing Nick, if you want to go to the party, just go and leave me in peace, would you?” Louis snapped, throwing his pen down and turning in his seat to fix a piercing blue glare on the DJ. He quickly threw his hands up in defeat.

 

“Okay, okay. Cool your jets. I just didn’t want you to burn yourself out. Sorry for trying to be a good guy. But you can be the one to tell Dani that even though you snapped at her the other day, you couldn’t even make it up to her by coming to her party tonight for even an hour.” He was aware that it was a pretty low blow, but he wasn’t known for playing nice. He also wasn’t known for being able to deal with people who took their stress out on others, and while he was certain Danielle could handle herself-- she’d confessed nearly knocking Louis about after that particular incident, in fact-- he couldn’t help but take a dig at him for it. He had said he’d felt pretty bad about it, after all. Some of the fire in those icy blue eyes dimmed as Louis broke the gaze, looking away in what looked a lot like shame. 

 

“I already said sorry about that,” he muttered under his breath. Nick shrugged before pushing himself up, grabbing his bag and dropping the paper with the address and directions onto his own desk. 

 

“Well, if you think that’s good enough. But if you change your mind, I’ll just leave these directions here.”

 

“I got the same text, you prat,” Louis huffed, turning back around in his seat. 

 

“Yeah, but you’ve already proven that you aren’t good with directions that don’t involve using major landmarks, so I made you some easier ones to follow. Don’t take too long, yeah?” He said, knowingly, before leaving out the door he had just barely come in through. The room grew quiet again as Louis sat there, pen back in hand as he stared down at his notebook. He seemed hyper aware of his phone, and the sheet with directions just feet away from him, and after about 20 minutes-- but really felt like hours-- he finally threw the pen down in surrender. 

 

He should really reconsider this friendship thing.

 

***

Niall smiled contentedly to himself as he curled a little bit closer into Liam’s side. (Not that he could really get much closer.) After a delicious home cooked meal-- thank God Liam could cook better than both him and Louis-- all his favorite trashy American reality shows and a quick snog session, he was feeling a lot better about the fact that his best friend had bailed on him, again. 

 

“Babe?” Liam’s voice vibrated through his chest as he suddenly spoke. The blonde looked up at him, quirking his eyebrow. “If it bothers you so much that Louis doesn’t come home, why don’t you just tell him?” Well, that was a stupid question. He pushed himself up and looked Liam right in his stupidly cute brown puppy dog eyes.

 

“Really? Why don’t I just tell him that I miss him and think he’s replacing me with his roommate? Because it sounds clingy and crazy, and I am neither of those things,” he said matter-of-factly.

 

“Well, you’re a bit crazy,” Liam smiled at him tenderly, grabbing Niall’s hand and lacing their fingers together. “And I personally wouldn’t mind if you were a bit clingy.” The blonde snorted loudly.

 

“You’re just trying to get into my pants, Mr. Payne,” he chuckled, waggling his eyebrows as he scooted closer to his boyfriend again. 

 

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he said with a small laugh. “But seriously, I think you should really consider talking to Lou about all this.” Niall knew he should, he did. He was just worried about how Louis would take it. It was easier to just live with it than to somehow offend the boy and further solidify why this Nick guy would be a better friend than him. 

 

“I’ll think about it,” he finally replied, knowing it’d appease Liam for now. 

 

“Good,” was all the brunette replied before carding his fingers through Niall’s hair. 

 

***

 

It wasn’t until Liam had headed back home to the One Direction flat that his phone lit up, alerting him of a new text.

 

is this ok for a party?

 

Attached was a picture of Louis in his white skinny jeans, a black v-neck and blue jean jacket. He looked good, which wasn’t really hard for Louis to do because, well, he was Louis. But after getting a very long text about how stressed he was about some midterms and not being able to come home because of it, he kind of expected him to look a little worse for wear. And definitely not going to a party.

 

lookin good as always, princess. who u goin with?

 

He shot back, his mind already supplying an answer before his best friend could, though his reply came just seconds later.

 

tnx babe ;) no one 

 

Sure, no one his ass.

 

meeting nick there. its at danis place

 

And there it was. Just like he figured. He knew he really didn’t have a right to be angry, and he wasn’t completely angry, per se. He was just-- no, who was he kidding, he was pissed. He hadn’t seen his best friend in two weeks because he’d supposedly been busy, and even when he had been here before that, he’d spent the majority of his time with Harry. If there was anyone that he should be getting ready to party with, it was him, and not that Nick guy. He stared angrily at his phone, Liam’s voice in his head. Maybe he should tell him how he really felt. Then he got a different idea entirely. Besides, he’d never been known for doing the rational thing.

 

sounds cool have fun 

 

He replied before opening a new message and typing “Harry” into the contact box.

 

we’re gonna visit lou be ready in 10

 

***

 

Harry wasn’t sure how he managed to find himself in Louis’ dorm room. In fact, he wasn’t exactly sure how Niall had managed to get them into Louis’ dorm room. Now that he thought about it, a few illegal things must have taken place to make it happen, but there they were all the same, him sitting on Louis’ bed while Niall rifled through the paper’s on Louis’ desk in hopes of finding a clue as to where this party was being held. In hindsight, when he received the Irishman’s text, he should have told him no. When he’d shown up at the flat, he should have sent him back home. But he didn’t. All it took was Niall saying that Louis was going to a party with Nick for his jealousy to take hold and, well, now they were here. Luckily, the place seemed to be pretty deserted and he didn’t have to work too terribly hard to keep his identity concealed. 

 

“Okay, Harry, you’re literally no help right now just sitting on your arse while I do all the detective work,” Niall said, shoving a desk drawer shut for emphasis. 

 

“Do you think we really should have come?” He mused, staring at the wall across from him, decorated in pictures and posters. He really had nothing to worry about, and yet he just couldn’t shake the way Nick stared down at Louis out of his head. On one hand, he had this inexplicable need to find Louis and make sure that everyone knew he was his, no matter what the cost may be, and on the other he didn’t want to be the jealous boyfriend. (No matter how weirdly hot Louis had said he’d found it.)

 

“A bit late to have second thoughts,” the blonde snarked, staring at the desk as if he could lift the answers he needed from it. Harry just shrugged, standing and turning towards Louis’ own wall, smiling at the large One Direction poster that Zayn had given him. 

 

“I just feel like we should have warned him, is all,” he said lowly as he took his phone from his pocket and took a quick picture of the wall before attaching it to a tweet.

 

“Think of it as a surprise, Styles. He’ll love it,” Niall replied before adding “I hope,” as an afterthought. Harry turned to Niall, returning his phone to his pocket after sending his tweet out. 

 

“I hope you’re right,” he smiled nervously, before a sheet of paper on Nick’s desk caught his eye. “Hey, Niall. Think that may be what you’re looking for?” He asked, pointing at the directions written across the page in near indecipherable handwriting. The blond snatched it and lifted it above his head.

 

“JACKPOT!” He cried, already turning to leave the room. “Now, let’s go get our Louis.” The picture of Louis getting a piggyback ride from Nick flashed across his mind’s eye.

 

“Yeah,” he sighed, pulling his hood over his curls and thrusting his hands deep into his pockets. “Let’s go find Lou.”

 

***

 

It hadn’t taken Louis nearly as long as Nick had thought it would to end up at the party. Just under an hour actually, which was quite impressive, given how adamantly against leaving his studying he had been. But he’d take it, because he would much rather be dealing with the boy he was watching dance carelessly with Dani than the one he’d just been cooped up with. He was nothing but smiles now. That, of course, probably had something to do with the amount of shots he’d done. (Let it be known that Nick himself had nothing to do with that. It was all Danielle, who seemed to be enacting some sort of revenge tactics on the poor boy.) He watched as Louis threw his head back and laughed at something their dancer friend had said before looking her straight in the eye and shaking his head vigorously, eyes cutting quickly to look at Nick and then back to her. A heavy arm suddenly fell down around his neck, causing him to jump.

 

“That your boyfriend, or somethin’?” A girl with bright orange hair slurred, causing him to laugh.

 

“Amy, don’t you think you’d know if I had a boyfriend?” He asked, wrapping a steadying arm around her waist in half a hug. The girl giggled as she leaned closer into him.

 

“Yeah, but I’m a little drunk and he looked a lot familiar so I thought I’d ask in case I’d forgotten,” she said loudly in his ear. 

 

“Yeah? I thought so too,” he said, more to himself than to Amy as he continued to watch his roommate dance. He’d always been good with faces. If he saw you once he could, more often than not, remember when and where and why. But not with Louis. Yet there was something there that was constantly niggling him. He was certain he’d seen him before, or heard his name, or something. He just, wasn’t sure. It drove him crazy after he’d first met Louis, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure it out. It didn’t bother him so much anymore, though he did hope that maybe if he could get his roommate to open up about that Mystery Love Bite Boy, he’d be able to solve the mystery. But he was even more tight-lipped about that, weirdly enough. 

 

“Oh, here he comes, I’m off, love, you can continue creepishly watching from afar.” Amy stumbled away just as Louis made his way to him, stumbling slightly himself. 

 

“Grimmy,” he whined. “I need to pee.”

 

“Well, aren’t you a doll,” Nick laughed, placing his hands on both of the boy’s shoulders and pushing him in the direction of the bathroom that Dani had pointed out earlier. “You would have known the way had you shown up earlier, you know.”

 

“Shut up,” Louis said over his shoulder. “I came, and Dani doesn’t hate me, and I don’t feel as stressed, so now you can’t be so mean to me anymore.” 

 

“Oh really, is that what I was being?” He laughed, both at his roommate’s drunken state and the miracle that they’d found the bathroom unoccupied. “I was certain I was being a good friend.” He flipped the lights on before shoving Louis in.

 

“Yeah, I guess you’re kind of a good friend,” he smiled at him. It was nothing but teeth and caused his eyes to crinkle in the corners and it was probably the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. Whoever Lou’s Mystery Love Bite Boy is, he was lucky.

 

“Aw, why thanks, Tommo, now go pee,” he said, closing the door. Nick leaned against the hallway wall, yawning obnoxiously as he waited for Louis to finish up in the bathroom. Absentmindedly, he grabbed for the phone and unlocked the screen, not even completely aware of the fact that he was opening up his Twitter app and quickly read the tweet at the very top.

 

@Harry_Styles: Wonder what loser this belongs to :P

 

Now, he had caught a lot of flack for following the One Direction boys on twitter, but he was a radio host, dammit, and he had to keep up with all the important acts of their generation, now didn’t he? (At least, that’s what he told all his friends. If he were being completely honest, he actually did enjoy the boy band quite a bit.) Mildly intrigued, he pressed the link to the picture. It wasn’t like he didn’t have time if the sounds of Louis knocking over various items were anything to go by. The screen flickered quickly before pulling up a picture familiar looking wall. His eyebrows pulled together as he brought the phone closer to his face. This wasn’t possible. He knew that wall. He saw that wall every single day. He woke up to the cheery smiles of the three boy banders hovering above the handwritten “For our biggest fans.” Nick’s stomach churned slightly as everything seemed to fall into place. He had recognized Louis. Louis was the Louis. The Louis that had people questioning Harry Styles’ sexuality. The Louis that seemed to have cropped up overnight through random tweets to the singer. The Louis that made up one half of that ridiculous ship name. His roommate Louis and Maybe Dating Harry Styles Louis was the same person, and suddenly he seemed too big for the hallway. Don’t get him wrong, it had been killing him not knowing why the energetic prat of a roommate of his had set off some bit in his brain that just screamed recognition, but now that he knew why, he was completely lost as to how to take it. There was a weight on his chest as he realized that he may have stumbled onto a secret that might be much bigger than anyone knew, and he wasn’t even supposed to know it. The bathroom door flew open as Louis fell out of it, grabbing onto Nick for support as he giggled. 

 

“You’re creepy, waiting outside the door,” he said childishly as he tried to right himself, only stopping when he saw the expression on Nick’s face. “Hey, mate, you alright?” He slurred a little. “I didn’t take that long.” Shaking his head, the taller boy felt himself at a loss for words, which very well could have been a first for his entire life. His mouth opened and closed uselessly. Luckily, he didn’t need to come up with anything to say because instead, Louis’ eyes lit up as he looked over Nick’s shoulder and pushed passed him with a grace that his inebriated self didn't seem to have just moments ago.

 

“Hazza!”

 

***

 

Instinctively, Harry tugged the hood of his jacket lower onto his head, as he and Niall pushed past the bodies dancing around the living room of the sorority house that they’d found the address for. It reminded him a little bit too much of the clubs he’d been set up in with all those models and it was making him feel a little less than comfortable. He just wanted to find Louis, and go. As they’d walked through the campus, following the oddly thorough directions on the paper they’d found on Nick’s desk, they’d come up with a game plan:

 

Get to house.

Don’t get lost.

Find Louis.

Kidnap Louis.

Get the hell out.

 

And if they happened to get separated, they were to meet outside the house in 15 minutes. Niall had even insisted that they set an alarm on their phones to know when exactly they were supposed to be back outside. (As completely and utterly ridiculous as it was, it was a little thrilling feeling like they were on a mission.) Harry watched as people stared oddly at the Irishman pushing against them, trying to figure out if they knew him or not, which they did not. He was pretty sure if they weren’t all so obviously pissed, someone would have stopped them and questioned them by now. 

 

“TIME FOR SHOTS!” Someone yelled nearby, causing a rush from the dance floor, effectively swallowing Niall and pushing Harry down some creepy and dark hallway that seemed to only be occupied by two people. From what Harry could see, the smaller figure was holding onto the bigger one, looking up at it.

 

“Hey, mate, you alright?” The smaller figure asked, causing Harry to stop and look a bit harder. He knew that voice. “I didn’t take that long.” The larger figure, Nick he now realized, just shook his head, but Louis wasn’t listening. He was looking past Nick’s shoulder straight at him. A smile broke across his face as he pushed away from his roommate and came barreling right at Harry, knocking the breath out of him, as well as knocking back his hood.

 

That, of course, was also the same moment that all the lights in the house came on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooooo! I hope this was a good enough update for the wait I put you guys through! I also hope it doesn't seem too random and everywhere. I'm sick and a little drugged on NyQuil, so in my head this reads perfectly fine buuuuuuut I feel like it may not be my best lol Anyway, I know I make these promises a lot, but I promise FOR REAL this time to not make you wait that long again. It'll help that I've gotten myself out of the rut I was in, and it will extra help that I've figured out what I'm doing now. SO, I hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit! HUGS AND KISSES!


	10. Chapter 10

Louis breathed in through his nose, and out through his mouth as he stared blankly at his computer screen. He couldn't believe midterms had snuck on him like they did, but here he was, eyes staring at the bright screen of his laptop as he tried to memorize the various marketing theories they were currently on in his marketing class. The fingers of his right hand danced over the skin just under his jaw where Harry had managed to suck a love bite so dark that, though it’d been two weeks, was just now nearly faded into his normal tan skin. A small smile flitted across his lips as he remembered the singer pushing him into the pillow the morning he was to return to school and nibbling the pulse point.

 

“Haz,” he’d whined, squirming in a failed attempt to get out from under the taller boy. “You’re gonna leave a mark.” 

 

“Exactly,” Harry had smiled into his neck as he continued to worry the spot between his teeth before sucking on it gently and tracing it with his tongue.

 

Of course, the mark didn’t go unnoticed by Nick, who managed to make a comment on it before Louis had even managed to shut the door behind him.

 

“You, my lad, did not have that abysmal mark on your neck when you were with me the other night,” he had drawled from where he sat on his bed, back against the wall, books spread around him and pen hanging from his mouth. “Cheeky little git, you didn’t tell me you had a boy back home.” 

 

“How do you know it’s a boy?” Louis shot back, already snappy thanks to the fact that he was back to this too small room with the person that he wasn’t exactly enemies with anymore, but someone he really didn’t need an interrogation from.

 

“Please, Tommo--”

 

“Still Louis, tanks.”

 

“-- You are about as likely to take a girl home as I am, which, in case you didn’t know, is completely unlikely. But do tell. Was it good?” Before he could have even answered, Nick had continued to blather on. “Oh, of course it was, look at you. All tousled and love bitten with that goofy smile. You probably got a shag in before you came here, didn’t you? Oh, you did, you cheeky little git.” All Louis had managed to do was roll his eyes before dropping his stuff on his bed and flopping down beside it, doing his best to ignore his roommate. A tactic that, unfortunately, rarely ever worked. 

 

“So, are you gonna show me who he is?” He asked in a hushed tone that reminded Louis of school girls gossiping. What did end up shutting Nick up, was Louis’ complete and utter refusal to share any details at all. “Ugh, you’re so annoying,” Nick had moaned loudly. “First you don’t tell me why I recognize you, now you won’t share about your sordid affair. I’ll figure it out, you know.” The taller man probably didn’t mean it to sound threatening, but it sent a small shiver down his back all the same.

 

Since then, the following two weeks had flown by in a blur of classes and work and Nick dropping some comment under his breath. Time had gotten so far out of his hands that by the time he realized it had been two weeks since he’d visited home, it was already too late to decide to go home for the weekend. Of course, it wasn't like Harry and Niall didn't understand, they were empathetic to the uni struggle, but he couldn't help but be down knowing that he was letting them down again by not coming home. A small growl escaped his throat as Nick pushed into the room, letting the door slam shut behind him. If he were being completely honest, Nick hadn’t been so entirely bad. Since the party, he did find himself considering them friends, albeit, friends who occasionally annoyed each other. Like when he’d randomly ask if that “dreadful hickey from hell” was ever going to disappear, or say, right now. (To be fair though, he’d probably be annoyed with just about anyone right now. It was this segmenting consumer markets chart, he swears.) 

 

“Hey, Tommo,” his roommate said cheerfully, dropping his bag on his bed and plopping down heavily beside it. He just raised his hand in a curt wave, hoping that Nick would take the hint that now was just not the time. “Well, someone seems to be in a mood,” the taller boy chuckled from where he sat, watching Louis’ back as he ignored him. 

“Bout time you get in a good lay, huh?” Nick prodded. Please just stop talking, Louis thought to himself as he attempted to draw the many charts from memory for the umpteenth time. “Oh, don’t be like that, love, you know I’m only teasing,” Nick sighed, the bed rustling beneath him as he pulled his legs up underneath him so he was sitting cross legged. The silence grew thick as Louis felt eyes staring at him intently, which made goosebumps ripple across his arms. The tension was finally cut when his desk rattled as his phone lit up and shook with a text from Danielle. Hissing at it, he picked it up and tossed it at his bed. Nick chuckled again as he pulled out his own phone, which had also gone off, presumably with the same text from the dancer. 

 

***URGENT*** PARTY TONIGHT. FORGET THAT MIDTERM YOU’RE STUDYING FOR AND GET YOUR ASS TO MY PLACE TONIGHT. XX

 

Reaching into his bag and pulling out a piece of paper, the taller boy scribbled out the address and directions to the sorority house listed and put his phone away. 

 

“So, Lou-Lou, how long you planning on studying for that midterm for?” He said in a tone sweet enough to cause a cavity, already knowing the answer. The poor git had been studying the whole damn week, and he was pretty certain he’d only racked up about 10 hours of sleep for the past five days. Normally, he wouldn’t intervene in other people’s stress, but he was going to go crazy if he had to deal with another silent night in his dorm room because even the sound of a pin dropping set his roommate off. 

 

“Until I know I’m going to pass, that’s how long,” the tense boy growled, and Nick was certain he felt the temperature of the room drop 10 degrees. He was so over this.

 

“Did you know, Tommo, that stress actually causes you to forget important things, so no matter how hard you study for that test, with the amount of stress you’re exuding, you’re going to forget.” You have to give him some credit, it was the only fact he remembered from his psychology class. 

 

“Gee, thanks, Nick. Hearing all my hard work is for naught really makes me want to ask why you could possibly be asking about how long I plan on studying,” Louis replied, the eye roll apparent in the near painful level of sarcasm.

 

“I’m just saying that you should step back for a second. Since living by my no stress rule, my grades of gone up a full letter grade. It’s quite helpful, you know,” he said simply, picking at his thumbnail in hope of feigning indifference. “Plus, at the rate you’re going, you’ll be certifiable by the end of the night. So, please, for the love of God, put the notes away, and come to Dani’s party with me.” The room got quiet again as Nick waited for an answer, certain he could hear the gears grinding in Louis’ head. 

 

“Hm,” the blue eyed boy hummed. “How about, no.” He finally replied in a clipped tone, before continuing the chart he’d been working on. 

 

“You’ve cut me deep, dear Louis, you have!” He cried, clutching dramatically at his heart and falling back on his bed. After a moment with no response, he lifted his head to see his roommate ignoring him. “Seriously? Nothing at all?”

 

“Nothing Nick, if you want to go to the party, just go and leave me in peace, would you?” Louis snapped, throwing his pen down and turning in his seat to fix a piercing blue glare on the DJ. He quickly threw his hands up in defeat.

 

“Okay, okay. Cool your jets. I just didn’t want you to burn yourself out. Sorry for trying to be a good guy. But you can be the one to tell Dani that even though you snapped at her the other day, you couldn’t even make it up to her by coming to her party tonight for even an hour.” He was aware that it was a pretty low blow, but he wasn’t known for playing nice. He also wasn’t known for being able to deal with people who took their stress out on others, and while he was certain Danielle could handle herself-- she’d confessed nearly knocking Louis about after that particular incident, in fact-- he couldn’t help but take a dig at him for it. He had said he’d felt pretty bad about it, after all. Some of the fire in those icy blue eyes dimmed as Louis broke the gaze, looking away in what looked a lot like shame. 

 

“I already said sorry about that,” he muttered under his breath. Nick shrugged before pushing himself up, grabbing his bag and dropping the paper with the address and directions onto his own desk. 

 

“Well, if you think that’s good enough. But if you change your mind, I’ll just leave these directions here.”

 

“I got the same text, you prat,” Louis huffed, turning back around in his seat. 

 

“Yeah, but you’ve already proven that you aren’t good with directions that don’t involve using major landmarks, so I made you some easier ones to follow. Don’t take too long, yeah?” He said, knowingly, before leaving out the door he had just barely come in through. The room grew quiet again as Louis sat there, pen back in hand as he stared down at his notebook. He seemed hyper aware of his phone, and the sheet with directions just feet away from him, and after about 20 minutes-- but really felt like hours-- he finally threw the pen down in surrender. 

 

He should really reconsider this friendship thing.

 

***

Niall smiled contentedly to himself as he curled a little bit closer into Liam’s side. (Not that he could really get much closer.) After a delicious home cooked meal-- thank God Liam could cook better than both him and Louis-- all his favorite trashy American reality shows and a quick snog session, he was feeling a lot better about the fact that his best friend had bailed on him, again. 

 

“Babe?” Liam’s voice vibrated through his chest as he suddenly spoke. The blonde looked up at him, quirking his eyebrow. “If it bothers you so much that Louis doesn’t come home, why don’t you just tell him?” Well, that was a stupid question. He pushed himself up and looked Liam right in his stupidly cute brown puppy dog eyes.

 

“Really? Why don’t I just tell him that I miss him and think he’s replacing me with his roommate? Because it sounds clingy and crazy, and I am neither of those things,” he said matter-of-factly.

 

“Well, you’re a bit crazy,” Liam smiled at him tenderly, grabbing Niall’s hand and lacing their fingers together. “And I personally wouldn’t mind if you were a bit clingy.” The blonde snorted loudly.

 

“You’re just trying to get into my pants, Mr. Payne,” he chuckled, waggling his eyebrows as he scooted closer to his boyfriend again. 

 

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” he said with a small laugh. “But seriously, I think you should really consider talking to Lou about all this.” Niall knew he should, he did. He was just worried about how Louis would take it. It was easier to just live with it than to somehow offend the boy and further solidify why this Nick guy would be a better friend than him. 

 

“I’ll think about it,” he finally replied, knowing it’d appease Liam for now. 

 

“Good,” was all the brunette replied before carding his fingers through Niall’s hair. 

 

***

 

It wasn’t until Liam had headed back home to the One Direction flat that his phone lit up, alerting him of a new text.

 

is this ok for a party?

 

Attached was a picture of Louis in his white skinny jeans, a black v-neck and blue jean jacket. He looked good, which wasn’t really hard for Louis to do because, well, he was Louis. But after getting a very long text about how stressed he was about some midterms and not being able to come home because of it, he kind of expected him to look a little worse for wear. And definitely not going to a party.

 

lookin good as always, princess. who u goin with?

 

He shot back, his mind already supplying an answer before his best friend could, though his reply came just seconds later.

 

tnx babe ;) no one 

 

Sure, no one his ass.

 

meeting nick there. its at danis place

 

And there it was. Just like he figured. He knew he really didn’t have a right to be angry, and he wasn’t completely angry, per se. He was just-- no, who was he kidding, he was pissed. He hadn’t seen his best friend in two weeks because he’d supposedly been busy, and even when he had been here before that, he’d spent the majority of his time with Harry. If there was anyone that he should be getting ready to party with, it was him, and not that Nick guy. He stared angrily at his phone, Liam’s voice in his head. Maybe he should tell him how he really felt. Then he got a different idea entirely. Besides, he’d never been known for doing the rational thing.

 

sounds cool have fun 

 

He replied before opening a new message and typing “Harry” into the contact box.

 

we’re gonna visit lou be ready in 10

 

***

 

Harry wasn’t sure how he managed to find himself in Louis’ dorm room. In fact, he wasn’t exactly sure how Niall had managed to get them into Louis’ dorm room. Now that he thought about it, a few illegal things must have taken place to make it happen, but there they were all the same, him sitting on Louis’ bed while Niall rifled through the paper’s on Louis’ desk in hopes of finding a clue as to where this party was being held. In hindsight, when he received the Irishman’s text, he should have told him no. When he’d shown up at the flat, he should have sent him back home. But he didn’t. All it took was Niall saying that Louis was going to a party with Nick for his jealousy to take hold and, well, now they were here. Luckily, the place seemed to be pretty deserted and he didn’t have to work too terribly hard to keep his identity concealed. 

 

“Okay, Harry, you’re literally no help right now just sitting on your arse while I do all the detective work,” Niall said, shoving a desk drawer shut for emphasis. 

 

“Do you think we really should have come?” He mused, staring at the wall across from him, decorated in pictures and posters. He really had nothing to worry about, and yet he just couldn’t shake the way Nick stared down at Louis out of his head. On one hand, he had this inexplicable need to find Louis and make sure that everyone knew he was his, no matter what the cost may be, and on the other he didn’t want to be the jealous boyfriend. (No matter how weirdly hot Louis had said he’d found it.)

 

“A bit late to have second thoughts,” the blonde snarked, staring at the desk as if he could lift the answers he needed from it. Harry just shrugged, standing and turning towards Louis’ own wall, smiling at the large One Direction poster that Zayn had given him. 

 

“I just feel like we should have warned him, is all,” he said lowly as he took his phone from his pocket and took a quick picture of the wall before attaching it to a tweet.

 

“Think of it as a surprise, Styles. He’ll love it,” Niall replied before adding “I hope,” as an afterthought. Harry turned to Niall, returning his phone to his pocket after sending his tweet out. 

 

“I hope you’re right,” he smiled nervously, before a sheet of paper on Nick’s desk caught his eye. “Hey, Niall. Think that may be what you’re looking for?” He asked, pointing at the directions written across the page in near indecipherable handwriting. The blond snatched it and lifted it above his head.

 

“JACKPOT!” He cried, already turning to leave the room. “Now, let’s go get our Louis.” The picture of Louis getting a piggyback ride from Nick flashed across his mind’s eye.

 

“Yeah,” he sighed, pulling his hood over his curls and thrusting his hands deep into his pockets. “Let’s go find Lou.”

 

***

 

It hadn’t taken Louis nearly as long as Nick had thought it would to end up at the party. Just under an hour actually, which was quite impressive, given how adamantly against leaving his studying he had been. But he’d take it, because he would much rather be dealing with the boy he was watching dance carelessly with Dani than the one he’d just been cooped up with. He was nothing but smiles now. That, of course, probably had something to do with the amount of shots he’d done. (Let it be known that Nick himself had nothing to do with that. It was all Danielle, who seemed to be enacting some sort of revenge tactics on the poor boy.) He watched as Louis threw his head back and laughed at something their dancer friend had said before looking her straight in the eye and shaking his head vigorously, eyes cutting quickly to look at Nick and then back to her. A heavy arm suddenly fell down around his neck, causing him to jump.

 

“That your boyfriend, or somethin’?” A girl with bright orange hair slurred, causing him to laugh.

 

“Amy, don’t you think you’d know if I had a boyfriend?” He asked, wrapping a steadying arm around her waist in half a hug. The girl giggled as she leaned closer into him.

 

“Yeah, but I’m a little drunk and he looked a lot familiar so I thought I’d ask in case I’d forgotten,” she said loudly in his ear. 

 

“Yeah? I thought so too,” he said, more to himself than to Amy as he continued to watch his roommate dance. He’d always been good with faces. If he saw you once he could, more often than not, remember when and where and why. But not with Louis. Yet there was something there that was constantly niggling him. He was certain he’d seen him before, or heard his name, or something. He just, wasn’t sure. It drove him crazy after he’d first met Louis, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure it out. It didn’t bother him so much anymore, though he did hope that maybe if he could get his roommate to open up about that Mystery Love Bite Boy, he’d be able to solve the mystery. But he was even more tight-lipped about that, weirdly enough. 

 

“Oh, here he comes, I’m off, love, you can continue creepishly watching from afar.” Amy stumbled away just as Louis made his way to him, stumbling slightly himself. 

 

“Grimmy,” he whined. “I need to pee.”

 

“Well, aren’t you a doll,” Nick laughed, placing his hands on both of the boy’s shoulders and pushing him in the direction of the bathroom that Dani had pointed out earlier. “You would have known the way had you shown up earlier, you know.”

 

“Shut up,” Louis said over his shoulder. “I came, and Dani doesn’t hate me, and I don’t feel as stressed, so now you can’t be so mean to me anymore.” 

 

“Oh really, is that what I was being?” He laughed, both at his roommate’s drunken state and the miracle that they’d found the bathroom unoccupied. “I was certain I was being a good friend.” He flipped the lights on before shoving Louis in.

 

“Yeah, I guess you’re kind of a good friend,” he smiled at him. It was nothing but teeth and caused his eyes to crinkle in the corners and it was probably the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. Whoever Lou’s Mystery Love Bite Boy is, he was lucky.

 

“Aw, why thanks, Tommo, now go pee,” he said, closing the door. Nick leaned against the hallway wall, yawning obnoxiously as he waited for Louis to finish up in the bathroom. Absentmindedly, he grabbed for the phone and unlocked the screen, not even completely aware of the fact that he was opening up his Twitter app and quickly read the tweet at the very top.

 

@Harry_Styles: Wonder what loser this belongs to :P

 

Now, he had caught a lot of flack for following the One Direction boys on twitter, but he was a radio host, dammit, and he had to keep up with all the important acts of their generation, now didn’t he? (At least, that’s what he told all his friends. If he were being completely honest, he actually did enjoy the boy band quite a bit.) Mildly intrigued, he pressed the link to the picture. It wasn’t like he didn’t have time if the sounds of Louis knocking over various items were anything to go by. The screen flickered quickly before pulling up a picture familiar looking wall. His eyebrows pulled together as he brought the phone closer to his face. This wasn’t possible. He knew that wall. He saw that wall every single day. He woke up to the cheery smiles of the three boy banders hovering above the handwritten “For our biggest fans.” Nick’s stomach churned slightly as everything seemed to fall into place. He had recognized Louis. Louis was the Louis. The Louis that had people questioning Harry Styles’ sexuality. The Louis that seemed to have cropped up overnight through random tweets to the singer. The Louis that made up one half of that ridiculous ship name. His roommate Louis and Maybe Dating Harry Styles Louis was the same person, and suddenly he seemed too big for the hallway. Don’t get him wrong, it had been killing him not knowing why the energetic prat of a roommate of his had set off some bit in his brain that just screamed recognition, but now that he knew why, he was completely lost as to how to take it. There was a weight on his chest as he realized that he may have stumbled onto a secret that might be much bigger than anyone knew, and he wasn’t even supposed to know it. The bathroom door flew open as Louis fell out of it, grabbing onto Nick for support as he giggled. 

 

“You’re creepy, waiting outside the door,” he said childishly as he tried to right himself, only stopping when he saw the expression on Nick’s face. “Hey, mate, you alright?” He slurred a little. “I didn’t take that long.” Shaking his head, the taller boy felt himself at a loss for words, which very well could have been a first for his entire life. His mouth opened and closed uselessly. Luckily, he didn’t need to come up with anything to say because instead, Louis’ eyes lit up as he looked over Nick’s shoulder and pushed passed him with a grace that his inebriated self didn't seem to have just moments ago.

 

“Hazza!”

 

***

 

Instinctively, Harry tugged the hood of his jacket lower onto his head, as he and Niall pushed past the bodies dancing around the living room of the sorority house that they’d found the address for. It reminded him a little bit too much of the clubs he’d been set up in with all those models and it was making him feel a little less than comfortable. He just wanted to find Louis, and go. As they’d walked through the campus, following the oddly thorough directions on the paper they’d found on Nick’s desk, they’d come up with a game plan:

 

Get to house.

Don’t get lost.

Find Louis.

Kidnap Louis.

Get the hell out.

 

And if they happened to get separated, they were to meet outside the house in 15 minutes. Niall had even insisted that they set an alarm on their phones to know when exactly they were supposed to be back outside. (As completely and utterly ridiculous as it was, it was a little thrilling feeling like they were on a mission.) Harry watched as people stared oddly at the Irishman pushing against them, trying to figure out if they knew him or not, which they did not. He was pretty sure if they weren’t all so obviously pissed, someone would have stopped them and questioned them by now. 

 

“TIME FOR SHOTS!” Someone yelled nearby, causing a rush from the dance floor, effectively swallowing Niall and pushing Harry down some creepy and dark hallway that seemed to only be occupied by two people. From what Harry could see, the smaller figure was holding onto the bigger one, looking up at it.

 

“Hey, mate, you alright?” The smaller figure asked, causing Harry to stop and look a bit harder. He knew that voice. “I didn’t take that long.” The larger figure, Nick he now realized, just shook his head, but Louis wasn’t listening. He was looking past Nick’s shoulder straight at him. A smile broke across his face as he pushed away from his roommate and came barreling right at Harry, knocking the breath out of him, as well as knocking back his hood.

 

That, of course, was also the same moment that all the lights in the house came on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooooo! I hope this was a good enough update for the wait I put you guys through! I also hope it doesn't seem too random and everywhere. I'm sick and a little drugged on NyQuil, so in my head this reads perfectly fine buuuuuuut I feel like it may not be my best lol Anyway, I know I make these promises a lot, but I promise FOR REAL this time to not make you wait that long again. It'll help that I've gotten myself out of the rut I was in, and it will extra help that I've figured out what I'm doing now. SO, I hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit! HUGS AND KISSES!


	11. Chapter 11

There were three things in which Harry was absolutely certain. The first being that he was never going to let Niall talk him into anything ever again. The second being that if it wasn't for Louis sloppily kissing his jaw and neck, he would be committing what he was certain was assault on a certain uni student. The third being that he was completely and irrevocably fucked. 

Now, maybe he'd seen too many movies, but he could have sworn he heard the sound of music screeching to a halt as everything fell silent. (Though, how music could screech to a halt when it was most likely coming from an iPod was far beyond Harry’s knowledge.) Time seemed to stand still as he wrapped his arms around Louis to cradle him to his chest as he awaited the onslaught of screams as the partygoers around him realized who he was. A thousand different scenarios of what was about to happen flashed across his mind’s eye in the span of time between the lights flickering on and the yell that broke all the tension. Of course, they all ended the same way. With a media frenzy and his management team throwing him off the roof of their rather tall office building. What actually happened, however, was not one of the many things he’d imagined.

“Fire! Everyone out! Now!” The shriek of a girl ripped through the house, quickly followed by the frantic yells of others as they started running towards exits. 

“Haz, you’re so hot, you started a fire,” Louis giggled, pressing a kiss on the corner of his mouth. Even under the circumstance, Harry couldn’t help the chuckle that rumbled in this throat. 

“I’m the one that’s supposed to make the bad jokes, Lou,” he said gently, brushing his thumb across the blue eyed boy’s cheek before pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. Louis smiled that smile that he reserved only for Harry.

“Hi,” he said breathlessly. Harry was vaguely aware of the fact that people were quickly evacuating the house, missing the couple on the floor of the near hidden hallway, and the fact that they should be a part of the charge to get out, but in that moment he really didn’t care. Maybe one day he’d stop getting hit by the stunning brilliance that was Louis’ smile, or the lively glint in his crystalline eyes, even when they were cloudy from alcohol, but today was not that day. 

“Hey,” he replied, smiling back at him. A loud hack broke his focus, pulling it from the boy laying on top of him to the one who had originally been in the hall with him.

“So, uh, Harry Styles, huh?” Was all Nick said, looking down at the couple. “That’s, uhm, that’s cool,” he stammered, looking at a complete loss for words. (There was always a first for everything.) Harry felt his body tense as he heard his name spoken by Louis’ roommate. Louis, on the other hand, pushed away and smiled even wider as he turned to Nick.

“Yeah! Grimmy, this is Harry. My Harry. My Harry, meet Grimmy!” He said happily, pointing between the two, completely oblivious to the glare Harry shot Nick, and the confused look that Nick sent back. 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Louis’ Harry, but I do have to say that I think we should be going,” Nick said matter-of-factly, gathering some of his composure. He wasn’t exactly sure why this world famous singer was glaring at him right now, but maybe he was too tipsy to be judging the situation right. And maybe the lighting was weird in this hallway. Except that he knew it wasn’t, but those scenarios were far easier to explain than the one where Harry Styles of One Direction was staring at a lowly uni student with a look of, well, of jealousy. The curly haired lad opened his mouth, ready to retort when an Irish accent cut him off.

“Louis! Harry! Dammit, where are you!” Niall shouted from somewhere nearby. “No need to rush, it wasn’t that big of a fire, but we still need to get out of here before the authorities get here! Oi!” The blonde suddenly appeared at the mouth of the hallway, blocking the majority of the light that had been streaming in from the living room. “You lovebirds haven’t been separated long enough to excuse fooling around during a fire scare,” he chided, shaking a finger cheekily at them. “But seriously, mates, we need to get out of here before someone shows up. I can’t have arson on my record.” 

“Niall!” Louis shouted, jumping up from where he lay on the ground and throwing himself at his best friend. “This is a good night,” he purred as he squeezed the Irishman to him before turning to Nick again. “Grimmy, this is Niall. Niall, this is Grimmy,” he leaned closer and stage whispered, “He isn’t as bad as I originally thought, you know.” Then he laughed, missing the look that Niall shot at Nick, and then at Harry. 

“Well, princess, it seems you’ve had yourself a way better night than me and Harry,” he said, turning his attention back to Nick. “We can take him from here,” he said curtly as he looped his arm around Louis’ waist and started to haul him towards the living room. Harry sat up, trying to not look at the shellshocked Nick that stood just a few feet from him. He knew he really had no reason to feel the deep rooted dislike towards the student. He was aware that he shouldn’t want to punch him in the jaw, especially since the only crime he’d committed was looking at Louis like he cared. But that was just it. As the popstar pushed himself off the floor, he caught the gleam of concern in Nick’s eyes as he watched the strange blonde escort his roommate away. And that, was what lit the fuse. Suddenly, the past few months all came crashing down on him. The stress of not knowing when he would get to see Louis, and if every time they missed each other would spell doom for their relationship pressed into his chest. The fear that he’d lose the one thing he’d wanted most sent ice through his veins. The jealousy caused by Nick and his blatantly apparent attachment to Louis set red across his vision. He knew he needed to get out of there before he did something he would regret, and with a huff, he was stalking out of the hallway, following the best friends towards the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. He tugged the hood of his sweatshirt up over his curls, preparing to make himself as invisible as possible when he felt fingers close around his wrist. 

“Harry, wait--” was all Nick got out before the singer whirled around and threw his fist out where it connected with the DJ’s jaw. He knew it wasn’t Nick’s fault that he cared for Louis. How could he not, and the thought of it just pissed Harry off more. If it were that easy for people to fall for Louis, it wouldn’t be hard for Louis to fall for someone else, especially if that someone else had more time to share with him. He swung his other fist at Nick, slightly shocked when he dodged it, a slight yelp of confusion escaping his lips. Niall stopped just before the door, turning when he heard the sound of a tussle. His eyes narrowed as he saw Nick go to push Harry away, but his grip tightened on Louis, knowing exactly what the drunken boy’s response would be. The singer fell back a few steps, before advancing forwards again, hands finding the front of Nick’s shirt and pulling the man towards him. 

“Why do you get to be with him all the time?” He muttered, more to himself than to Nick. “Why?” He growled as he shoved Nick closer towards the exit. 

“Nialler, why are Haz and Grimmy fighting?” He asked quietly. Niall shook his head as he tried to pull Louis out of the house. 

“Let’s just get you out of here,” Niall mumbled, keeping one eye on Harry in case he needed backup and another on the exit. Louis shook his head as Harry pushed Nick again, the roommate stumbling backwards again. 

“I want them to stop,” he said, anger creeping into his tone. 

“I know, Lou, but we need to go, okay,” Niall reassured, pushing him even closer to the doors. Just one more step and he’d be able to open them and shove his friend outside. But as he reached for the handle to wrench it open, Louis broke free of his grasp and ran towards Harry and Nick. 

“Stop!” He yelled, grabbing Nick by the shoulders and pulling him out of the way of another punch from Harry. Niall wasn’t sure who lost their footing, but from where he stood, he saw as Louis and Nick misstepped, both stumbling backwards towards the glass doors as Harry’s eyes grew wide and he reached out to catch Louis’ wrist as the brunette reached out towards him. But it was too late by then. Niall watched in horror as the trio fell back through the glass. It shattered into a million shining pieces around them. For a second time that night, a hush fell across the group of partygoers as the three of them fell onto the grass of the backyard. Had it been anyone else, Niall may have found it a little comical, the way the three of them had fallen atop each other, but in that moment, all he could see was the cut across Louis’ cheek that started to bleed, the way Nick stared at Harry as if he were a wild animal that may attack, the way Harry looked like a wild animal on the attack and the hushed crowd that stared solely on the singer. The silence only lasted a moment longer before the first voice broke it.

“Is that Harry Styles?”

***

The sunlight streaming down upon Louis created a creepy red glow through his eyelids as he slowly returned to the land of the living. His eyes felt swollen as he tried to open them, finding it more difficult than usual for a night of drinking. And his whole body ached in a way that felt like he’d been his by a bus. With a grunt, he went to wipe the hair out of his face, only to find it crusted to his face. It wasn’t until he rubbed at the area that stuck his hair to his cheek that he felt the sting of a cut being reopened. And that’s when it hit him. 

The party. Harry showing up. The fight. 

“Is that Harry Styles?” The question replayed in his head as he laid in bed, throat constricting as he remembered the rest of the night.

“This kid, Harry Styles?” Niall had said, rolling his eyes and quickly stepping towards the trio on the ground, offering the singer a hand to pull him up so his back was towards the crowd of evacuated partiers. “He gets that a lot, but unfortunately no. Can’t even hold a tune, that one. It’s quite tragic. Not to say we haven’t tried, he’d make a killing doing impersonations, wouldn’t he?” The blonde had chuckled, dusting Harry off, checking him for glass and breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that his big bulky hoodie had saved him from any real damage, though from the look on Harry’s face, the real damage had already been done. A pang of sorrow had cut through Louis as he watched Niall look over Harry, seemingly forgetting his best friend who was laying on the ground bleeding. The fall had sobered him up quicker than time or a cold shower ever could and suddenly he’d felt just short of sick and hurt. 

“Hey, you alright?” Nick had asked, getting up and offering Louis a hand and he took it, completely aware of the wary glance that was shot his way by two sets of eyes. 

“I just want to go home,” was all he’d muttered, looking directly at Harry as he’d looked over his shoulder at him before tugging his hood over his head. With a quick shrug, the singer started to stalk towards the gate that would lead them out of the backyard and towards the road to get back to the dorms. Niall looked between Louis and Harry’s retreating form a couple of times before running after the taller boy, leaving his best friend to stand there feeling completely and utterly alone. 

“Oh my gosh, Lou, are you alright!” Danielle’s voice had broken through the low disbelieving mutters. All he was able to respond with was a simple “Yeah, sorry about your door” before shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans and following the departing duo. Nick didn’t follow, which was probably for the best, because the walk back to the dorm had to be the longest and quietest that Louis had ever experienced. He had wanted Harry to say anything, and with each silent step he took, Louis just grew angrier. It wasn’t like he couldn’t be trusted. Harry and Niall both knew he was going to be home in a couple of days, so it wasn’t like they wouldn’t see him soon. So why the hell did they show up unannounced like they had a reason to suspect him of something. 

By the time the trio reached the door of his room, Louis was fuming. His head had started to hurt, his face stung, his body ached from being a landing cushion for Nick and Harry and his heart ached even worse. Throwing the door open, he stormed into the room, turning to face his best friend and boyfriend as soon as the door swung shut.

“What the fuck!” Was all he had yelled, not even sure how to properly word his frustrations over the night. And it seemed he hadn’t been the only one.

“You were supposed to come home!” Harry yelled back, pushing his hood down as he ran an annoyed hand through his hair. “You never fucking come home anymore,” he said lower, almost under his breath as if he hadn’t meant for anyone to really hear him. 

“I told you two I was going to come home in a few days, Jesus, you couldn’t wait a few more fucking days!” Louis had continued to yell. “How did you even know where I was anyway!” 

“Does it matter?” Niall finally spoke up, his voice more even, and honestly, it was somehow more filled with rage than either Harry or Louis. “Why does it even matter, Louis? Why does it matter how we found you? Your best fucking friend and your fucking boyfriend came to visit you because you can’t even bring yourself to come home like you promised to spend time with them even though Harry is about to go on tour for months. But here you are, at a party with your roommate that, need I remind you, you hated at one point. Now you can’t even come home to see the people that love you. You didn’t even fucking go to Harry when that fight broke out, you went to Nick to pull him out of the way,” he continued, voice never leaving the rage filled monotone that it was. It had been like a slap in the face, because he was right. But Louis couldn’t admit that. How could he?

“Fuck off, Niall,” was all he managed, turning his back to them, listening as Niall’s breath hitched and he stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Real fucking nice, Lou,” Harry had growled. “You know, he’s been feeling pretty replaced lately. Li and the rest of us have been trying to tell him that it’s okay, and that he had nothing to worry about because you wouldn’t replace him, and you wouldn’t replace me, but it doesn’t seem we were right, were we?” He said lowly.

“What the fuck are you on about?” Louis replied, eyes fixated on the window in front of him, staring at Harry’s reflection.

“I’ve seen how Nick looks at you, okay! I saw it that night he almost walked in on us and I saw it tonight before you saw me, and it’s not like you’re giving him much reason to stop.” The air felt like it was being sucked out of the room as the blue eyed boy watched the reflection’s eyes narrow at him.

“We’re just friends,” Louis had spit out. 

“Yeah, well, I hope your friend was worth it,” was all Harry had said before turning and leaving the room. Louis wasn’t sure how long he had actually stood there, staring at the window and willing the tears that threatened to spill over back from whence they came, but they didn’t. The burn at the back of his throat almost choked him as he’d felt the salt water slide down his cheeks and over the cut. Maybe it had been hours, or just minutes, but it felt like an eternity before he finally crawled into his bed and had cried himself to sleep.

Now, laying there in the sun, he wanted nothing more than to take it back. Take it all back. Apologize because he had been a shit friend, and a shit boyfriend. Apologize because they didn’t deserve that. It felt like there was a hole stretching across his chest that made it hard to breathe. He had really fucked up.

***

Harry lay in his bed, face pressed to his pillow as he tried to wipe the image of Louis looking at him with that pained expression etched across his face and the sound of Louis’ voice filling with hatred towards him. He hadn’t meant for it to happen like that. He knew he had no reason to be upset with Louis, or Nick for that matter. All he and Niall had really wanted to do was surprise Louis and then get him to come home. Now, it seemed he’d messed up the one real thing he’d ever known. He had really fucked up.

***

Niall let out a long sigh, unaware that he’d even been holding his breath as he had stared up at the ceiling until his lungs had started to burn. It was all his fault that last night had happened. If he would have just stayed home and waited for Louis to come home, or just talked to him about how he was feeling like Liam had suggested, he wouldn’t feel like he’d just ruined his best friend’s relationship. And he certainly wouldn’t feel like he’d ruined the best friendship he’d ever had. He took in another breath to hold. He had really fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently the previous chapter was never posted, it was just listed as a draft and THAT makes me feel really bad. I guess that means AO3 gets two chapters tonight! Anyway, I'm sorry this took so long, but I can't make any promises about upcoming chapters, only because it seems when I do, I jinx myself. I hope you enjoyed it! If not, I'm still thankful you took the time to read it down to this point! <3


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW it’s been a minute since I’ve updated this, huh?

It had been a week since “The Incident” and it was the longest week of Louis’ young life. In the 168 hours since “The Incident,” he hadn’t talked to Harry, and Harry hadn’t talked to him. In the 10,080 minutes since “The Incident,” he had seen Niall for maybe five of them, and they were the five minutes it took for Niall to pack a bag as soon as Louis had finally returned home after his midterms for holiday. In the 604,800 seconds since “The Incident,” Louis was able to come to terms with the fact that he was officially the saddest he had ever been, and he had no one to blame but himself. He knew he should have apologized as soon as he’d woken up the next morning, but as he had laid there in his bed, reliving the night over and over, the angrier he had become. How dare they not trust him enough to know that he would never choose Nick over them. How dare they treat him like he couldn’t have his own time. And most importantly, how dare they not even try to talk to him about it. 

Of course, now he knew that they were right. From where they stood, it only seemed obvious that Louis had chosen the company of his roommate over the two most important people in his life, and he hadn’t even realized it. How he could have been so stupid was beyond him, but his pride was what kept him from slinking his way to the One Direction flat, knowing that’s exactly where the two of them would be and he just couldn’t face them, no matter how much he needed their forgiveness. He curled himself closer around his pillow, aware that cinnamon and clove scent that usually clung to it had faded to a whisper of what it had been, masked by the smell of his own mint shampoo. 

His phone started to vibrate on his nightstand, an all too familiar ringtone accompanying the buzz. It only stood to reason that the one person he didn’t particularly want to talk to would be the only one to call incessantly over the past week. He was sure Nick only meant well, but speaking to him would only remind him of the fact that he was the reason he’d ended up with a fat lip and a few scrapes and cuts. The song cut off as Louis stared past the phone and out the window, getting lost in his thoughts. 

It wasn’t until the sound of the front door slamming jolted him upright that he’d realized he’d dozed off. 

“Nialler?” He croaked, jumping out of bed and tripping over his own feet as he headed for his bedroom door. He stopped as he clutched the doorknob, considering what he’d even say to his best friend, as if there was anything he could possibly say for what he’d said to him or how he could have possibly made him feel. He wasn’t even certain he could face the Irishman, and half contemplating locking the door and heading back to his bed like the coward he was. Then he heard a cupboard open and close and he just knew Niall would be making a cuppa, something he only did when he was truly upset and he found his resolve. Throwing the door open, he walked briskly towards the light in the kitchen.

A yelp escaped his throat when he saw that it wasn’t actually Niall occupying the kitchen, but Zayn.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” Louis cried, aware that it came out a lot ruder than intended, but to be fair, he’d almost had a heart attack. Zayn quirked an eyebrow at him, looking up from the mug and carton of tea he’d removed from their stash. 

“Lovely to see you too, Louis. It’s been quite some time. How have I been? Oh, lovely of you to ask, I’ve been pretty okay aside from the two moping arseholes that have been making living in my own apartment a living hell. How about you?” He replied, his voice even as he kept his hazel eyes trained on Louis like he knew that that was exactly what would cut him deepest. There was a moment of silence as the singer continued to rummage through Louis’ kitchen, this time looking through the biscuit drawer. 

“Are they really that bad?” He managed to say, though it was so low he was almost sure that the dark haired lad couldn’t have heard him. He averted his eyes from Zayn’s gaze, instead looking at the pile of rations he seemed to be gathering. 

“Lou, I’m not here to make you feel worse than you already do, and I’m not here to tell you what to do. In fact, I’m only here to pick up a short list of items for Niall, and I’ll be on my way, but if you have anything you need to say while I’m here, you should probably say it,” he remarked softly, opening another drawer and grabbing Niall’s “Tea Stirring Spoon.” (“I cannot sully my sadness tea with a spoon that has been used for anything else, Lou, you know that,” he’d said that one time Louis had tried to hand him just a normal spoon.) 

There was another silence while Louis thought of all the things he wanted to say, but realized there was nothing he wanted to say, because sending messages through Zayn would be far worse than the silence they had all seemed to agree upon. No, anything he had to say to Harry and Niall, he would have to do himself, but he did have some things to say to Zayn.

“Zayn?” He said, angry at how small his voice sounded. 

“Mm,” the younger man hummed, turning back to face him.

“Have I really been that bad?” Louis already knew the answer, he just needed to hear it from someone else.

“Honestly, Lou?” Zayn asked, voice soft. All he could do was nod.

“Yeah, you’ve been pretty bad. I can’t even remember the last time I saw you, which stings a little bit, and I’m not even shagging you or living with you, so I can only imagine how they feel. Well, I can because they’ve mentioned it once or twice,” he chuckled darkly as he shook his head. “But they were wrong to show up unannounced and try to drag you back home. Tommo, you’ve been busy, and no one faults you for that, but they have their own issues that made them do what they did, and I promise you it doesn’t all have to do with you. But it isn’t for me to discuss with you,” he shrugged and turned away again to gather up the bundle he’d made of goods. “You really should talk to ‘em sometime though, and I’m not just saying that because I really need the two of them to get off our couch. I can probably get Niall to come back home, especially since I think I grabbed just enough wrong things to drive him crazy.” 

Louis laughed for the first time all week, and it sounded wrong to his ears.

“I can’t promise anything with Harry though,” he continued, voice turning somber. “That one you’ll have to work out on your own.” Zayn walked towards the door as Louis nodded, heart breaking as he realized he may have messed up the one thing that meant the most to him. “Oh, and Tommo?”

“Yeah?” His voice was gruff as he tried to fight back the sting of tears. 

“They aren’t the only ones that miss you when you go MIA. Don’t be a stranger, yeah?” And before he could reply, Zayn was out the door just in time to miss the first tear fall.

***

It had been two weeks since “The Incident” and if Harry was being honest, he was just being a dreadful prick now. In the 336 hours since “The Incident,” he’d managed to spend probably 300 of them moping— the other 36 being spent on what little sleep he was getting. In the 20,160 minutes since “The Incident,” Harry had ignored a total of 38 phone calls from Louis, because there was no way he could face him knowing just how badly he had messed up. In the 1,209,600 seconds since “The Incident” he was able to come to terms with the fact that he liked Louis far more than he had even known was possible, and it scared him. Right after their fight, he had been angry, sure but not just at Louis, but with himself. He’d become a person he had never wanted to become, and it was because he had fallen completely in love with Louis. He loved him so much, that he was terrified to leave for their tour, because he was certain he couldn’t make it the months they’d be gone without seeing him. When he said he’d give it all up to be with Louis, he had meant it, but in that moment, lying alone in his bed trying desperately to remember the warmth of the smaller man’s body slotted against his, he would do it. It was the scariest revelation he had ever had, made all the scarier by the fact that in that moment, his phone lit up with a picture of an angular face that was nothing but big blue eyes. 

Niall had gone home the previous week after a pretty big blow out with Zayn about tea and biscuits or something, and though he’d been by since, he hadn’t mentioned Louis and Harry didn’t ask. He just continued ignoring the elephant in the room that came in the form of his phone. “Fire” by Kids In Glass Houses filled his room for the umpteenth time as the light of the screen set his eyes ablaze as they tried to adjust to the light in the darkened room. He could put his phone on silent, but he kind of enjoyed the pain that hearing the song brought him. He kind of deserved it after all he did. 

The song played for a few more seconds before cutting off and shrouding the room in darkness yet again. Harry stared in the direction of the phone, awaiting the inevitable second call, because Louis always called in twos. What he didn’t expect was for the phone to light up minutes later, not with another call, but with a tweet.

He knew he shouldn’t open it, after all, he’d done a pretty good job of ignoring anything Louis related for the past two weeks, but that didn’t stop him as he quickly opened the notification, eyes stinging not just from the brightness of the screen as he read the tweet.

@Louis_Tomlinson: After all, we’re only human. Always fighting what we’re feeling, hurt instead of healing. 

***

At the time, when Zayn had returned from his mission to pick up Niall’s sadness kit with the wrong tea and the wrong biscuits, he had felt completely and utterly betrayed. He could have just put up with the chamomile tea and the generic biscuits that dared to call themselves another version of Speculoos, but it just felt wrong. That and, though he’d never admit it, he missed Louis. That didn’t make him any less mad though as he gathered his things and left in a huff, yelling some very nasty things about Zayn’s poor taste in tea. 

His drive home that day had been the longest of his life, and he half expected Louis to be holed up in his room when he got home, continuing to uphold his end of the mutual silent treatment they were giving each other, which is why he nearly jumped out of his skin when he opened the door and saw the brunette sitting at their table with a mug of what smelled suspiciously like his Earl Grey. 

“Jesus Christ, Lou!” He yelled, hand clutching his chest like it would help his heart return back to its normal beating patterns. “You can’t just sit there at the table staring at the door like you’re the fuckin’ Godfather or somethin’!” Niall continued angrily as he closed the door behind him, aware of just how awkwardly thick the silence was in the apartment. He turned back towards his best friend, who just pushed the mug in his direction, and it was the only invitation he needed to run towards Louis and wrap his arms around him. “I’m so sorry,” he mumbled into his best friend’s shoulder. “I am so sorry, Tommo. It was all my fault. I should have told you how I was feeling.” 

Niall felt Louis shake his head as he returned the hug.

“You’re my best friend, you silly git, you better know that,” Louis sniffled as tears started to soak the material on Niall’s shoulder. And though it was far less than the brunette could have said, it was all he needed to. To be honest, Niall had forgiven Louis the very next day after the fight. It was himself he’d had a hard time forgiving. He was the reason “The Incident” happened in the first place and it was all for petty jealousy. He realized he had started crying himself as he nodded against Louis’ shoulder. “Good leprechaun,” he purred as he patted the top of Niall’s head. With a short laugh, he pulled away from Louis, wiping a hand across his nose.

“Now stop with this mushy stuff, Princess, we have a lot of very bad television to catch up on,” he said, voice still watery as he grabbed the mug of hot tea and headed for the couch. 

***

It had been a week since Niall had returned home and while it felt like nothing had ever happened between the two of them, Louis was still felt like there was a major hole in his chest. A major, curly haired boy sized hole right where his heart was supposed to be. He had tried to call. In fact, he tried to call about six times a day and each and every call went ignored by Harry and with each ignored phone call, the hole grew bigger. It had gotten to the point that he relied on Niall telling him how Harry was doing when he would run into him when he went to meet Liam. (He’d stopped asking after the third time though when Niall mentioned that the pair of them had matching dark circles under their eyes.) 

He never left a message though. He tweeted and he pined, but he never left a message. He sat on his bed, phone in hand as he stared down at it, having just tweeted the lyrics to a song and feeling completely and utterly lost when a soft knock broke him from his reverie. 

“Lou,” Niall said gently, leaning in the doorway. “I’m going out with Li, do you want anything while I’m out?” 

Louis shook his head, not looking up from his phone though he knew it wouldn’t light up with the one name he wanted to see. He heard Niall sigh quietly.

“You really should leave a message,” was all he said before he closed the door. 

“If only it were that easy,” Louis mumbled moments later to no one. He wasn’t sure how much time passed as he sat there with his phone, contemplating another phone call when a Twitter notification brought the screen to life. Without hesitation, he opened it.

@Harry_Styles: Is there any other reason why we stay instead of leaving

It was all he needed to urge him to call one more time.

***

Harry’s thumb hovered over the the voicemail playback button, unsure if he really wanted to hear what Louis had to say, or if what he really wanted was to hear his voice. Either way, he knew he needed to listen to the message, no matter how scared he was that it could possibly end everything. Taking a steadying breath, he pressed the button, and put the phone to his ear, choking back a sob at the relief of hearing the all too familiar rasp of Louis’ voice. 

“Harry,” there was a long pause and a soft sniffle. “Haz, I miss you.”

***************************

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HOPE YOU GUYS FOUND THIS WORTH THIS RIDICULOUSLY LONG WAIT. I am so sorry it took me that long. If you were wondering what the song that is being tweeted is, it’s "HUMAN" BY JON MCLAUGHLIN :) Something you all will be happy to learn I think is that there are four chapters left, and if all goes according to plan, your next update will come on Monday during the day, so no one has to wait ungodly hours into the night. Now that I’ve got things narrowed down and I’m finally back on my focus, I plan on knocking this thing out. Those of you who have put up with me and my shit update schedule deserve that much. So I plan on updating you once a week for the next four weeks. Thank you everyone who reads this and even cares still! Let me know if it kinda sucks, I want you to be brutally honest, because I’m obvs rusty. (And obvs kinda lost in my own story since I had to got back and read the previous two chapters since I couldn’t even remember what I’d written. Fail.)


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Louis’ first day, well… second first day, at uni. It was a great summer with his best friend and their famous boyfriends, but now he’s back at university and he isn’t so sure now that this was a good idea. He never really liked school anyway, and now that he has to go it alone, without Niall and without Harry, well, it doesn’t seem too fun, especially since One Direction plans to ship off on their World Tour soon. And let’s not forget his new roomie who is a nosey twat who seems hell bent on figuring out why Louis’ name is so familiar to him. How is he supposed to balance school and his secret relationship with 1/3 of the current hottest boy band? Or, more importantly, can he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told ya I’d give you another update :)

“We really need to talk,” was all that ran through Harry’s head after listening to the rest of Louis’ message. He knew exactly what that meant, and it ripped his heart into a million little pieces that he knew would be impossible to put back together again. Though he’d promptly deleted the message in an attempt to protect the tiny pieces of his heart, those five words continued to haunt his mind. Through his last week before tour, he continued to ignore Louis’ calls, deleting the messages as they came as opposed to listening to them. He even turned off his Twitter notifications. As far as he was concerned, if he pretended none of them happened, he could get through this until he was out on tour where Louis could just dump him via text because he’s certain it won’t feel as bad. (And, this way he can keep his memory of Louis’ perfect voice saying much sweeter things to him untarnished.) 

Now, it’s the day they are set to fly out to Australia to kick things off and it feels like his lungs have been torn from his chest. His suitcase is still open, half packed with an array of clothing that doesn’t even particularly go together, but he can’t bring himself to care as he lowers himself to sit on the corner of his bed and try to catch his breath. The burning sensation is almost too much as he tries to drag lungfuls of air through his nose and out his mouth and for a second, he’s pretty certain he’s actually dying. 

There’s a knock on his door before Zayn pokes his head in, concerned look on his face as he takes in Harry clutching his chest. 

“You alright, mate?” He asks softly, knowing the answer but not wanting to let on that the Harry had actually been quite shit at hiding the fact he was obviously out of sorts. 

“Yeah,” Harry moaned. “Yeah, just a bit of heartburn. You know how much I hate flying.” His words are thin, without enough air to make them have much life and Zayn pushes his way into the room. 

“Why don’t you just talk to him, babe?” He says as he puts an arm around the green eyed boy’s shoulders. He feels Harry shudder away from the contact but keeps his arm there, afraid that if he doesn’t hold him together he may just fall apart in front of him. The silence is only broken by Harry’s attempts to breathe before he answers.

“I’ll be ready to go soon,” is all he says before standing up and continuing to pack, wincing not so subtly the whole time. It isn’t that he isn’t grateful for Zayn attempting to be a good friend, but he knows that the cracks in his facade are glaringly obvious and he didn’t make it through these past few weeks just to fully come undone in his last hours. He just had to make it through the packing of his suitcase and onto that plane, and he could put Louis out of his mind. Zayn sighed loudly as he stood up and left, casting a withering glance behind him before closing the door. 

***

Niall wasn’t certain what it was Louis could have possibly said in the message or the following messages he’d left Harry, but they were obviously not what he meant for the singer to be ignoring him like he was and the fact that he knew it was killing them both was just making him mad. He’d had enough of watching Louis mournfully watching his phone at all hours, jumping when it went off just to look disappointed when the outcome wasn’t what he wanted. He’d had enough of seeing that zombie that was supposedly Harry walking around the One Direction flat when he went to visit Liam. More importantly, he’d had enough of his friends acting like right prats when they were so obviously head over heels for each other. 

That’s why he had decided to take things into his hands. (And this time it wasn’t going to end with anyone trying to knock anyone out. At least, he hoped it didn’t.) 

He closed the door to Liam’s room as quietly as he could, tiptoeing his way to the bed before crawling up into it and snuggling close to Liam’s sleeping body. A drowsy, goofy grin crept across his face and for a second Niall almost forgot the whole reason he was there. Not that that was shocking with the way the previously comatose boy was now looking at him, through lethargic eyes with that stupid adorable grin on his face.

“This is a pleasant surprise,” he mumbled, voice rough with sleep. It made the Irishman shudder as he pressed further into his boyfriend’s space to press a chaste kiss to the corner of that dumb smile that he was pretty certain was reserved only for him.

“How much do you think we’d need to bribe some security guards?” Was all he said, mischievous and determined glint burning in his bright blue eyes.

***

After thinking back on what he’d said in his message to Harry, he realized exactly how it had sounded. We really need to talk. Ugh, what the hell had he been thinking. Of course Harry had gone into hiding after that, hell he probably would have too. As if he didn’t already feel bad enough, he’d pushed Harry even further away and he didn’t even know that had been possible. Now the lads were leaving for Australia and he’d probably never hear from Harry again. When this had all started, he knew he couldn’t possibly end up being the one that got the singer forever, but he didn’t think it would be something that would just fade away into nothing but a memory. That one time he dated a popstar. His heart hurt and he was sure it would never stop. A heart attack would have been kinder, at least that would have to end eventually. It hurt so badly, in fact, that he had planned to just lay in his bed for the rest of his life. It had been a great plan until Niall had thrown his bedroom door open and announced that he was taking Louis out, tired of his moping and really tired of his depressing playlist. (“Seriously, Lou. Adele. Again. There are far better sad songs out there to mourn the death of your relationship to. Love yourself enough to not become a cliche, Princess.”) 

So there he was, arms crossed in a sorry attempt to keep his chest from splitting open in the passenger’s seat of Niall’s small car, thinking about how much he’d fucked up when they pulled up in front of a small coffee shop. 

“You’ve got five minutes at stop one. If you aren’t back in this car in five minutes, I will start causing a scene,” was all the blonde said as he pulled his phone from his pocket and started a timer. 

“What are you on about?” Louis asked confusedly. Niall knew better than anyone of his hatred for coffee. 

“Tick tock, Lou! Time is running, and this is just stop one!” His friend said loudly, pushing the phone into his face. Honestly, Louis wasn’t sure why he kept Niall around. He was perfectly content laying in his bed and wishing for an early death. Slowly, he opened the car door, walking towards the shop, completely lost at what exactly he was supposed to be doing there in the first. That was until he saw him sitting at the coffee table near the back, looking nervously at the door. 

How Niall knew Nick would be there was beyond him. He almost turned back around though, because he hadn’t even begun to think about how exactly he was supposed to apologize to Nick for all that happened, and he had thought he’d made that clear when he ignored every phone call and text until he’d stopped trying all together. His traitorous feet carried him forward all the same and he found himself standing in front of Nick’s table.

“Hey Tommo, long time no talk,” was all Nick said, looking at his roommate with a small smile. 

“I’ve only got a few minutes apparently,” he said back, not even sure what that was supposed to mean to Nick at all.

“Louis,” Nick started, looking down at the table for a moment before continuing. “I am so sorry about what happened.” 

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” the blue eyed boy responded, and he meant it. Of everyone that there was to blame for everything going on, Nick was clear of any blame. The only thing he was guilty of was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “It was my fault. It was all my fault.” It came out as a whisper and he wasn’t sure he even meant for Nick to hear it. The taller man just shook his head. 

“Look, Louis, I don’t know what your Irishman thinks I can do in this plan he has, but obviously Harry loves you. I wish I didn’t need to get a fat lip to prove that, but if that’s what I can do for the situation, I guess it didn’t hurt all too bad,” Nick said with a chuckle, attempting a bit of banter. It didn’t work though, and he became worried all over again. He hadn’t known Louis for too terribly long, but he knew that he looked wrong with such dark circles and that dead look in his eyes. With a sigh, Nick pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened up an app before handing the device to Louis. “I’m not sure how Niall knew Harry reached out to me, but he thought that this could help you out with whatever it is he has up his sleeve.” And there, on the screen, was a direct message conversation between Nick and Harry.

_ Nick, I am so sorry about everything.   
Can I ask you a favor? _

****__ it’s okay, harry. how many people can say they were punched in the face by harry styles?  
hah yeah okay too soon  
sure?

_ Take care of Louis for me? _

_** mate i think you overestimate mine and luis’ friendship.  
and i think you underestimate how much he likes you ** _

_ Please? _

_** yeah. yeah i’ll take care of him ** _

Louis put the phone back down, tears pricking the edges of his eyes.

“I’m not exactly sure why he’d ask me to do that, but Louis, if you are about to let him leave your life without a fight, you aren’t the person I thought you were,” Nick said matter-of-factly, looking him straight in the eye and not looking away. All Louis could do was nod, even though he wasn’t even sure how he could fight for Harry when he was on a plane going to Australia and wouldn’t return any of his phone calls. But Nick didn’t have to know that. Nick opened his mouth to say something else, when he was cut off by one long and continuous honk of a horn. Everyone in the coffee shop turned their attention to Niall, who sat in his car with his hand pressed firmly to the steering wheel, smiling devilishly at Louis through the window. “Times up, Tommo, get out of here!” Nick yelled over the incessant horn. He wasn’t sure why his heartbeat kicked up a few notches suddenly, but adrenaline started to run through his veins as he turned to return to his friend before someone could call the cops of the psycho outside of the coffee shop. 

“Oi, Louis!” Nick’s voice called out, stopping him at the door. “Tell Harry I say hi!”

***

Harry wasn’t sure what he’d done in his past life to warrant being detained by airport security, but he better have been a serial murderer to end up stuck in a back room being interrogated about why they found some sort of substance on the handle of his suitcase. He just couldn’t get out of this god damn country, could he? With a groan, he dropped his head onto the table. 

Outside, he could hear Zayn and Liam talking, though he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. Hopefully they were informing the security that no, he did not have plans to blow up any planes. At least, he didn’t until he was nearly strip searched. He’d be lying if he said the idea didn’t run through his mind at least once since. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the door opened and the surly security guard that had grilled him about explosives and guns and stuff he really didn’t know about came back in. Eyeing him warily, Harry sat up. 

“Sorry, Mr. Styles, for the inconvenience, it seems we had the wrong bag,” was all he said before holding the door open to him. “Please accept our fondest apologies, and enjoy your flight.” If he had been anyone else, he probably would have lost his cool, telling the guard where exactly to shove his fond apology. But he wasn’t, and no matter how badly he wanted to close the door on his head hundreds of times, he wanted to get to Australia a lot worse. Liam and Zayn were just outside, whispering to each other and looking at their watches worriedly. 

“We’re not going to miss our flight, are we?” Harry asked, feeling panic bubbling up in his rib cage. His bandmates stopped their chatter and looked at him, in a way that made him instantly suspicious. “We didn’t already miss it, did we?” His voice shot up a couple of octaves. 

“No, no, Haz, we’ll still make out flight. Come on, let’s go,” Liam said, voice still sounding off as he glanced at his watch again. It was weird, but it had been a weird kind of day so honestly, Harry wasn’t going to question it. With Liam and Zayn walking on either side of him, they left the security area and started to head towards their gate. His friends chattered around him, the conversation feeling forced and like they were having a secret conversation within the one they were really having, sort of the way parents talk around their children. Honestly, it would have annoyed Harry if he hadn’t been so focused on the gate sign that was slowly growing closer. With each step it grew bigger, and so did the hole in his chest. If he didn’t think about it, though, he could just pretend it was a bit of heartburn. Then, he realized that the talking around him had stopped. Actually, his friends were gone completely, which, well, that was pretty weird. Harry tore his eyes from the sign ahead of him and actually focused on the world around him when he saw him and felt the air leave his lungs for the umpteenth time that day. 

There, straight ahead of him, was Louis, eyes shining with determination and mouth set in a focused way. And, wow, even with the dark circles that matched his own under his eyes, Louis was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. His memories hadn’t done him any justice and for a moment, he considered closing the distance between them and never letting him go. That was until he remembered exactly why he had been so set on getting to the gate behind Louis in the first place. Then the panic set in. He looked around for Zayn and Liam to see them behind him with Niall, all watching expectantly. Niall even smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. They were obviously in on what he was going to start referring to as the No Good, Terrible Day. Well, whatever, he was done moving. He would not take anymore steps towards his demise, even if it looked downright delicious in those skinny jeans. 

Louis saw Harry set himself where he was, trying desperately to look anywhere but at Louis himself. With a sigh, he closed the distance between them, coming up right into his space so that he couldn’t be ignored.

“Hey, Haz,” he breathed, peaking up through his lashed and up into Harry’s green eyes. He’d missed those eyes.  Harry bit his lip, unsure of what to say because there was so much he needed to say. 

“Hello, Lou,” he finally sighed, voice sounding defeated. 

“I’ve missed you, you know,” Louis said, lifting his hand and then putting it back down in hesitation. Seeing him second guessing himself hurt even more than not seeing him at all and Harry longed for him to touch him. He was only vaguely aware of the curious stares they were now getting. 

“Yeah? I’ve missed you too,” Harry said lowly, voice smoldering as returned Louis’ cerulean gaze, trying to count the flecks of color lost in that sea of blue before Louis said the words that would cut him out of his life forever. There was a silence as the air between them grew thick with want.

“Fuck, Haz,” Louis finally broke the silence. “You’ve been a right prat, you know. I can’t believe you tried to leave without saying goodbye.” That, was not what Harry had been expecting.

“E-excuse me?” He stammered, taken aback by the sudden ferocity in Louis’ voice. Louis looked around taking in the crowd that was slowly forming before getting this look in his eyes that he only got when he was set on a decision. 

“I love you, Haz. I love you even though you have been a complete wanker and have been ignoring me for weeks. I love you even though you were planning on leaving the country to tour the world without saying goodbye,” Louis said, his words filled with nothing but honesty. “And, dammit, I love you even though you think I couldn’t possibly love you with distance between us. Fuck, Harry, how could I not?” A hush fell over the airport as blood started to rush in Harry’s ears. He felt the hole in his chest evaporate and took his first real breath in weeks. Everything suddenly seemed brighter and everything was Louis and he needed nothing more than to show the shorter lad that he was so sorry and that if he could, he would spend the rest of his life making it up to him. The look of determination started to leave Louis’ eyes and was replaced by concern the longer Harry didn’t respond.

“Harry?” He whispered, worry coloring his voice. How had he been so stupid to think that he would have been able to leave Louis, and how had he been so stupid to think that Louis would just let him leave. It made his spirit soar and though he felt the gaze of many onlookers, he didn’t care. He lifted his hand from his side, and let his fingers gently graze the scar on Louis’ cheek from The Incident. He felt Louis press into the touch, keeping his eyes locked on Harry’s, waiting for a response, but he couldn’t think of how to form the words that would convey to Louis just how he felt. 

“You know, I’ll be here waiting for you when you get back,” Louis said softly, smiling up at him and that was all Harry needed to hear. Sliding his hand behind Louis’ neck, he pulled him in and pressed their lips together, breathing Louis in like the air he had so desperately needed. He ran his tongue across the blue eyed boy’s bottom lip, pulling away with a laugh at the small gasp it elicited. He knew the smile stretched across his face was a ludicrous but it didn’t matter, because he had Louis and Louis had him and sure he’d be gone for awhile, but it didn’t matter, because he’d be there waiting for him. 

“I love you,” Harry finally said. And that’s when he heard the faint sound of a phone camera shutter and a whispered “Oh my god.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaaaaay we don’t have to be sad anymore! Just two more chapters and an epilogue to go! No promises on if I can get another chapter squeezed in this week, but you will certainly have one next week. That is a promise. We are on the home stretch! As per usual, if you think it’s awful and terrible, let me know. And as always, thank you so much for reading <3


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